Full Blown Nightmare
by Hopeless Alchemist
Summary: "Things never happen the way you think they will. Sometimes it's good, but there are other times where you end up fighting for your life. This whole thing has turned into the fighting type of situation." Fangirl Ari had no clue that her life would be changed forever with that little necklace. Now she's about to be caught in a war of the worlds that no one could've predicted. EdxOC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: There may be some of you that hate me for putting up yet another fan fiction (i.e. Lexi-chan), but I know where this one will end up. I am also having some issues with TSSA so I've been playing with this one.**

**So the idea behind this one came to me after dinner at Waffle House. I don't know what inspired the idea, it just came to me. Well, enjoy *:-{)**

•|•_ -prologue- •|•_

Things never happen the way you think they will. Sometimes it's good, but there are other times where you end up fighting for your life. This whole thing has turned into the fighting type of situation.

A couple months ago I was a harmless fangirl. Now I'm trying to figure out where I'm headed. Will things work as planned, or will we all be doomed?

•|•_ -end of prologue- •|•_

My legs pumped hard as I struggled to get my bike up the massive hill and to my school. The plaid uniform skirt I was wearing didn't help matters at all.

_Come on! Keep going Ari!_ I commanded myself. It wasn't even eight in the morning and already I felt like I was in need of another shower.

Huffing and out of breath, I reached the top.

_Finally!_ I thought. _Why the hell did they put a high school at the top of a hill!?_

I swung my leg over the back and walked my bike over to the rack.

I pulled my bike chain out of my pack's side pocket and locked it up.

"Arista!" a familiar voice called out using my full name. "Hey fangirl!"

I turned around and saw Opal, my best friend since middle school and my favorite blonde, running over to where I was.

"Hello!" I called with a smile.

She adjusted her backpack and said, "You rode your bike again?"

"Yeah," I responded, glancing over at it.

Opal shook her head. "You need a better mode of transportation."

I scoffed. "Oh please, it's not as if I'm going anywhere out side of this town."

"Yeah, but you still need to relax."

I laughed. "Dude, if I didn't ride my bike I'd be as fat as a whale. I spend all my free time watching anime."

Opal smiled. "Anime is awesome so I don't blame you."

"Haha!" I put an arm around her shoulders and we started walking into the school.

The day was uneventful and dragged on. By the time my last class hit, I'd given up on focusing. I pulled out my sketchbook and started drawing the military dragon from FMA.

A textbook slammed in front of me and I jumped backwards, almost tipping my chair back. It was my teacher.

"Miss Lyre, I realize that you speak more Japanese than French but can you please take time to pay attention to what we are doing?" she demanded.

There were snickers coming from different areas of the room. My face turned red as I closed the book.

"Pardon, Madame," I said in French.

She nodded and returned to the front of the room. I stuck my tongue out at her while her back was turned.

After school I flew down the hill on my bike, using the inertia to push me across town and to my house.

"I'm home!" I called out as I entered the huge mansion like house. As usual, no one answered.

Sighing, I walked up the stairs to the third floor and into my room. The large couch and laptop were normally the objects of my attention. But there was something else in the room.

I set my pack down and walked over to my desk. My Edward plush wasn't sitting on my desk like he normally was. He had been knocked over onto the floor. In his place there was a small, black drawstring bag on top of a small envelope.

I leaned down to pick him up. I tucked him under my arm as I opened the envelope. A letter was on the inside, written with messy handwriting.

_"Dear Arista Lyre. Please do not open the bag until you have finished reading. What is inside the bag is a very rare item. Do not think of it lightly. You have been warned. _

_"I have a few more things to say. I know that you are neglected by your family and that you have been wishing for a change. When you finish reading this letter, hold the bag in your hand and wish for something. You cannot wish for someone to die or for someone to come back to life. Terrible things will happen if you try to do so. Also know that the wills of people cannot be manipulated even if you wished, so don't waste time._

_"I can't tell you who I am, but please know that this is an opportunity to do something amazing and/or life changing. Take care and goodbye."_

I stared blankly at the letter after I had read it. It took me a few moments to understand what had happened.

I set the letter down and picked up the bag. The one thing I wanted more than anything was to go to Amestris and meet the characters I'd always loved.

_Like that can actually happen_, I thought with a smile._ It'd be beyond awesome, but it's just a fictional place._

The black bag began to glow red, a shade similar to that of blood.

"What the hell is this?" I thought out loud.

The light got brighter and soon I was blinded. All I saw was that red color. It eventually faded out, but now I was stranded in white space.

"Hello!" I called as I held tightly onto my plush.

"Seems like you got a present. We're all wondering who was kind enough to give you something like that," a voice said. It was almost like the English dubbed Truth, but somewhat deeper.

I looked around, trying to find the owner of the voice. A dark smile greeted me as I turned.

"I've been waiting for you, little human," it said.

I backed away, not believing anything in front of me. "What are you?"

"Come now," it said. "Someone like you should be an expert on things like this. I am what people on your side call God, but I'm locally known as Truth."

I staggered backwards, unsure of how to react.

_This has to be a dream,_ I thought. _I never even made it home, did I? I fell asleep in the middle of class and this is some sort of boredom/fangirl induced illusion._

"I assure you that this is no dream," Truth said. "The item in that bag is proof enough. Go on. Open it up and tell me what you see."

Hesitantly, I obeyed. Inside was a large, round, silver pendant on a chain. It was at least two inches in diameter. There was a red stone set into the front of it. The necklace looked like one I'd seen at the jewelry shop across town.

Of course it wasn't as easy as that. It couldn't be.

"It's a necklace," I said simply.

"Obviously, but what do you see on the pendant?" he asked.

I blinked and looked at it for a moment.

"I see a ruby. It doesn't seem like anything that would get me pushed over here though."

Truth hung his head in irritation. "You're not too bright are you?"

I clenched my fists and screamed, "Who are you calling dumber than a sack of hammers!?"

Truth looked up at me, frowning.

Biting my tongue, I cursed myself for losing it_. Crap. Maybe anime really is influencing me. I mean, my reactions have only gotten worse since I started watching FMA._

"Hahahaha!" Truth laughed. "You're such an amusing human. Allow me to explain. That necklace holds a Philosopher's stone. If you wish for it that stone can take you two places."

I raised an eyebrow. "Two?"

"Yes, two," he said holding up two fingers. "Should you choose you can go back and forth from each side of the gate. Only remember that if you come back to your side, the likelihood of you being able to return is almost impossible. Or you can turn back now and never have this chance again."

I looked down at the necklace. This seems like a no brainer.

Truth smirked. "Good choice."

As a large gray door appeared behind him, I thought back to the anime.

The door opened and little black arms came out to me.

"Before you go I'll be taking some of that."

The necklace in my hand shined red.

"And there's something else," he said, smiling. The hands stopped moving as more happened.

My hand grew hot and I eventually had to open it. I looked down at the red skin of my palm and grimaced.

"Now then, let's take this and put it somewhere it won't get lost," Truth said as the necklace floated.

The hands quickly grabbed me and held me still. One of them pulled up my hair as the necklace came towards me.

I winced as the long chain wrapped itself tightly around my neck. I felt like it was strangling me, but that's not what it was doing; it was embedding itself into my skin.

The pendant lied down against the hollow of my neck. I moaned as it sank slightly into my skin.

"There there, little human. This is necessary. Once you get back to your world it'll come off. That is, if you choose to go back. And be careful. If you use the Stone multiple times, then you won't have the necessary payment to go back home."

The hands began pulling me into the gate. My neck throbbed as the doors closed and I was taken into a never ending darkness.

_**A/N: So how was the first chapter? Just so you know the next couple chapters I currently have are a lot longer. And my first chapters always turn out kinda short.**_

_**Well here's little fun fact: I was thinking some of my blonde when writing Opal down. Yes that means you Lexi. Though Ari is nothing like me, I couldn't resist putting her in.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Welcome to the second chapter of Full Blown Nightmare, or FBN for short. **

**So Ari has come to Amestris wearing her school uniform, a Philosopher's Stone is now attached to her, and she's carrying an Ed plushy. Let's see how things turn out.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to FMA or the TBA reference. I also have permission to use the reference.**

•**|•**_** Ari •|•**_

It felt like I was floating. After the pain of the necklace forcing itself into my skin, this was a pleasant change. Despite that I was annoyed.

_I thought I was going to the other side. Where the hell am I now?_ I thought.

I regretted those thoughts, because as if Truth could hear me I began falling.

I landed with a soft thump into something cushy.

_The hell..._

I looked around and tried to figure out where I was. For a moment I thought I was still in the darkness. As my eyes adjusted I noticed the outline of a bookcase. As I looked around I saw a desk directly in front of me and a long set of tables farther away.

_Where did I land? _

I sat up and noticed my plush was still in my hand. I held him to my chest as I walked around. I saw a door and walked towards it. I pushed down on the handle and looked down either end of the hallway.

_Looks clear to me._

"Freeze!" a loud voice said. My eyes grew wide as I slowly looked over my shoulder. A soldier down the hall had a gun pointed at me.

My heart began pounding as my hormones gave me a shot of adrenaline. My legs shook with fear.

_Calm down Ari. This has to be a misunderstanding. Yeah you just landed from some other world, but there's no reason for a gun. Is there?_

The shaking got worse when he took a step forward.

Every ounce of my being told me to run the other way, so that's exactly what I did.

I booked it down the hall, thanking whatever was out there that I rode my bike to school every day.

I heard gunfire and my legs only moved faster.

I turned down various halls, the whole time bullets being shot at me, though none actually hitting me.

The next turn brought me to my inevitable down fall. A dead end stared me in the face.

The original soldier, along with a couple others, had me cornered.

"All right kid, what were you doing in there?" he demanded, the barrel of the gun staring me down.

_It's like a James Bond movie_, I thought to myself before focusing on more important matters.

I looked around quickly searching for an escape. When there wasn't a clear one, I decided to put my I put on a shocked face and pointed at a random spot behind the three of them. "Oh my god! What is that!?"

I tried to not smile as they looked behind them. I stood up and readied myself for more running.

They were still stupidly looking. I bolted for it while they looked around a corner.

I turned back towards where I had begun, but unfortunately they noticed me.

I heard a gunshot milliseconds before an exploding pain burst through my left thigh. I fell forward onto the ground, frozen in shock.

My heart pounded as my skirt soaked up blood. Every muscle in my body got tense at the same time and my breathing became rapid.

"Idiot!" I heard. "That was supposed to be a warning shot! What the hell do you think your doing to help by shooting a god damned kid!?"

"I'm sorry sir," a second voice said.

A loud slap resonated through out the hall.

"Even if she was moving, that didn't give you the option to be careless!"

"I'm sorry," the second one said.

My heart pounded and the terror swept over me, the idea that I was dying implanted in my mind. My chest got tight and I could barely breathe.

The pain became too much to bear. I hugged my Ed plush as my vision got fuzzy and I eventually blacked out.

|•|•|_Ed_ |•|•|

Ed woke up completely unaware of the fact his whole life would be thrown onto a different course.

An officer came to his door to tell Ed he needed to come with him.

Ed frowned. "What for?" he asked.

"There's been a situation at Central Command. Your brother can come if he wishes."

Ed continued to frown as he got his coat and told Al they were going out.

_What kind of situation requires me to be there_? he thought as he followed the officer.

•_|• Ari •|•_

I had no clue where I was when I opened my eyes the next time. It was very bright and very white. I was reminded of a hospital, before realizing that was where I was.

_Did I crash my bike? _I thought as I sat up. As I looked around, I realized it wasn't like any hospital I'd ever seen.

_So all that really did happen. Duh, if it's a dream you typically wouldn't feel pain like that._

A doctor came in. "Good, your awake then," he said.

I blinked at him, confused.

"Can you answer some questions for me?"

I blinked again before nodding.

"Okay. So what's your name?"

"Arista Lyre."

He asked me how it was spelled and I sighed as I did so.

"How old are you?" he asked, moving on.

"Fifteen," I responded.

"Okay," he said as he wrote that down. "Where do you live?"

_Crap. _

I looked away and began biting my thumb nail. "I don't know how to answer that."

The doctor looked up at me with an eyebrow raised. "Just tell me where you live," he said, frustrated.

The honest person inside of me had taken over and the actor was left back in that hallway.

_You're going to think I'm crazy._

He sighed. "Okay, moving on. These were just background questions. The MPs will be asking you questions from now on. You have a lot of explaining to do."

I swallowed as he stood up and closed his notebook. He left the room and a nurse came in, carrying my uniform.

"Here you go," she said as she set it down at the foot of the bed. "Get changed now. You've attracted a lot of military attention, and they don't like being late."

I nodded as she left.

I got up and nearly screamed when I stood on my leg. My whole thigh was bandaged and I could hardly move it.

_Holy shit! I never thought getting shot would hurt this much!_

Seething as I straightened out, I took off the hospital clothes and changed into my cursed uniform.

"Looks like I'm stuck in this bloody thing," I said in a fake British accent. I slid my arms into the sleeves of my button up sweater and sighed.

The only thing missing at this point was my plush. Even my spare house key had been left in the sweater pocket.

_Opal gave me that. I hope they didn't throw him away_, I thought, wincing as I stepped to the door.

I opened it and saw a handful of familiar characters. My jaw nearly dropped when I saw Edward, Alphonse, and Mustang there in front of me. Ed had his arms crossed, Al was standing behind him, and Mustang was conversing with a nurse, obviously trying to hit on her.

The other officer there saw me, he gestured for me to come out. "Come with us," he said firmly.

I swallowed in fear and stepped forward. He grabbed my arms and pinned them behind my back. I felt something cold land on my wrists as he handcuffed me.

I was lead down the hall and outside. My eyes grew wide as I saw Central in all its glory.

"Wow," I uttered to myself, to quiet for anyone to have noticed.

I was escorted to a car and we drove to another building.

_Crap, crap, crap... _I thought, finally back in reality._ Where the hell are they taking me?_

My eyes grew wide when I saw Central HQ.

The door on my side opened and I was lead out and into the building.

"You will be held in a jail cell until later today. You will be asked questions and then we will determine whether you will be free, or if you are to be transferred to the prison."

My heart pounded slightly and I had to take deep breaths to steady myself.

He led me into the building and I limped into the dank cell.

I was uncuffed and left there for almost an hour.

Another officer I was lead into an interrogation room, where I was met with a different officer and the three characters I could spot a mile away.

I sat down in a chair and my heart pounded. I gripped the edges of my skirt and tried to steady myself again.

"Okay," the officer said. "According to this report you were seen coming out of the Furher's office late last night. You then ran away from three officers and were shot in the thigh by one of them."

I nodded.

"This report also mentions that you were in position of something resembling a member of the military." He turned to a different officer, who handed him my plush. My eyes lit up at the sight of it.

"Thank god it's okay," I thought out loud, completely forgetting the real version was standing mere feet away from me.

"What is the purpose of this?" he questioned.

I smiled like the dork I was. "It's a lot to explain and you'll most likely send me to the loony bin," I said, quoting Opal on her description of a psych ward.

"Pardon?" he said.

"A psychiatric ward, someplace a crazy person has to go if they're deemed dangerous."

They didn't know how to react to this_. Stop it with the 21st century talk! _I ordered myself.

"Uh, so," I started. I proceeded to tell them all about my plush, but lying about certain points, such as the FMA manga and anime. My improv skills came in handy with this.

I told them about some made up place and about how where I came from Ed was thought of an idol because of his abilities as a State Alchemist. I described about how his actions in helping others was admired. I'm pretty sure that all I accomplished was boosting Ed's ego.

After a little more explaining of how I got into the Furher's office, they actually released me. With a few catches.

I listened closely as the man spoke with Mustang. He wanted Ed and Al to be my guards, because my story seemed a little far fetched.

Mustang told the two brothers and they both reeled back.

"Guards!?" Ed exploded. "We have work to do!"

"Well then maybe she could be of help," Mustang said bluntly. "Just follow your orders; keep her with you and make sure she doesn't do anything even mildly dangerous. The military wants her alive for some reason."

My eyes grew wide._ This is like in TBA! I didn't want guards; I just wanted to meet them. Now that I've seen Ed I'm good with going back. Seriously! And what does he mean "for some reason"?_

I reached up and touched my neck, trying to figure out how to turn on the Philosopher's Stone. After a few moments I gave up and slumped, my frizzy red-brown hair falling down around me. I fingered with it, the color reminding me dirt and clay.

I listened to them as they argued and leaned forward so that I was resting on the table. I stared at my plush before reaching over and grabbing him.

"So when are we leaving?" I said my irritated voice cutting through the air like a katana.

They all stopped and for a brief moment there was quiet.

Ed voice broke the silence. "Now. We have some work to do at the library, so you just come and behave."

I glared at him. "I'm the same age as you dude, so stop acting as if I'm a little kid," I said, mildly pissed off.

Saying nothing in return, he dropped the subject and started for the door, Al following behind him. I sighed and stood up, Ed plush in hand.

"Hold it," the officer said.

I stopped walking and turned around to face him. "Yes, sir?"

"I'll be keeping that here," he said, hand held out.

I frowned at him, reluctant to letting go. "Why?"

"We don't completely believe what you've told us, so seeing as that is a major part of why your here it would be best for you to leave it here."

I raised an eyebrow. I glanced down the Ed plush's angry face before handing him over.

"Here," I said. "But I will want it back. Some one close to me gave it to me, so it's special."

"I can assure you nothing will happen. Now go on," he ordered.

I glared as I turned around and followed Ed and Al out. It took me a moment to remember what exactly happened at the library. I self-consciously touched the Stone and my heart pounded. I had briefly forgotten what completed a Stone. Now that I remembered I felt sick to my stomach. The pounding got harder and I forced myself to calm down before anything bad happened.

_Damn it Ari! Calm the hell down! You can't lose it in the middle of the street like this! _I thought as I took deep breaths.

Once I could breathe, I went back to the current issue._ What should I say if they question me about this thing? I'm more than amazed as to why they haven't yet._

There was an unsettling silence as we walked down the street.

I saw the library and my heart skipped a beat.

_It's bigger than I thought it was._

We walked inside and were met with a couple people I recognized as Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh.

I put on a straight face and tried to act as natural as possible.

"So my guards have guards," I said with a smile.

"Unfortunately," Ed griped.

"May we ask who this is?" Ross asked.

I didn't give Ed or Al a chance to speak. "Due to earlier issues Edward has been ordered to guard me."

"Your name..." Brosh started.

"Arista, but just call me Ari."

Ed cut in. "Let's skip the introductions. Al and I have things to do."

He walked past the two of them, not thinking twice of their existence after.

I sighed and walked forward, following them to the beginning of the end.

**A/N: Here ya go! I couldn't resist sticking this chapter up today. It's been sitting in my files list since Thursday. **

**So for those of you who have been waiting for a TSSA update, I can almost promise you that it'll be up tomorrow. I have just a little bit of rereading, minor edits, and then the word fix. The ancient Word I've been using has been messing with the bold and italics. If I have anything bold, everything around it will be bold. If my character is thinking, everything turns into italics. It's an irritating process and I can't wait until I get a laptop on Christmas. **

**Well sorry for the long A/N. Also know that I might update this story sometime later this week. Until then, stay out of jail and keep loving anime *:-{) **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Behold, I have returned with chapter 3! Ah, isn't old English fun? I think so anyway.**

**So I'm going to make this fanfic something that you've never seen before. Not in any of these first few chapters, but in a little bit you'll see my transforming the enemy into something you've probably never tried thinking about. I'm not giving any spoilers but I'll let you know the homunculi's boss I made up has nothing to do with FMAO or Brotherhood. I'll let that eat at you. For now we come in somewhere between the first Resembull trip and meeting Sheska.**

•|• _Ari_ •|•

I followed them to the second story. There was a table with a few stacks of books on it. Ed sat at one end and Al on the other. They both began reading and tuned out the world.

_It doesn't look like they're trying to decode notes, so what's this all about?_

After a couple minutes of staring at them I finally felt like making a scene. I wasn't going to do that, though, because it would only make me seem more insane.

I got on my knees and rested my chin on the table top. "So what exactly are you guys doing?" I asked, completely bored at this point.

Neither of them answered. Frowning, I scooted over so that I was in front of Edward. He didn't seem to notice I was there.

I got on my feet and leaned across the table until my face and his book were centimeters away.

I grabbed the top of his book and pulled it out of his hands.

"Just so you know, I don't like being ignored," I said, my special brand of evil thick in my words.

|•| Ed |•|

Ed was caught off guard when he saw Ari leaning on the table. Her hazel eyes glared at him as she spoke.

"What are you guys reading?" she questioned him.

Ed leaned back in his chair, uncomfortable with her being so close. "It's about a town over in the west. We've got a lead on something, so Mustang wants us the check it out."

"What kinda something?" she asked, not moving from where she was.

Ed hesitated to answer. _Keep her safe and alive. Those were my orders. I don't have to tell her what we're doing._

"Well?" she said when he took too long. "Is it the Philosopher's Stone?"

Ed froze and Al looked up at them. They didn't know how to react.

A smile crept up on Ari's face. "I hit the nail on the head, didn't I?" She moved off of the table and continued. "This is fun. So who's your lead?"

A nerve snapped in him as Ari's idiotic smile stayed there.

"Can't you be any quieter?" Ed hissed as he glared at her, causing her to reel back slightly and the smile to be cleared. "Not everyone needs to know what it is that we're up to. If we wanted you to know, then we would have told you."

The smile on her face faded the moment he first lashed out at her. She got off of the table and sat down in one of the chairs. "Sorry. I can be a pest when I'm bored," she said softly, smirking at the end.

Ed relaxed the glare and sighed. He glanced at his brother before looking back at her.

_God, I really can be an ass hole. She's stuck with us, so the least I can do is let her in on some details._

Ed began explaining. "There's been suspicious activity done by a guy named Walter Glass. He's a former State Alchemist living in Tyria, a town out in the west. His specialty is bio alchemy and..."

He would have gone on, but the look of terror on Ari's face had caught his attention.

•|• Ari •|•

My heart began pounding when Ed mentioned bio alchemy. I was reminded of Tucker and Nina. My chest got tight and I struggled to breathe.

Ed would have said more, but he was focused on me.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

I closed my eyes and held my breath_. Not here! Not now! Stop this! Calm down! Nothing bad like that is going to happen you idiot! You know that, so why the hell are you worrying!?_

I lifted my hands to my head and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to comfort myself. I'd always managed to get by on my own like this easily, but with these two around it would most likely get turned into some big deal.

"Come on Ari," Ed insisted. "What's going on?"

I shook my head, not wanting to explain while still in "freak out mode".

_Calm down._

I opened my mouth and allowed air to come rushing into my lungs. I began breathing deeply and the pounding softened.

I opened my eyes as I exhaled. I looked up at the two of them and felt blood rush back up to my face.

"Sorry about that," I said, voice soft. I pushed my hair behind my ears and straightened out my back. "You were saying?"

Ed looked at me with his mouth open, completely astonished that I had changed the subject like that.

"No way, you're not getting off that easily," he said. "What the hell was that?"

I swallowed and looked at the book I had pulled away from him. "A panic attack," I said quietly.

"What?" he asked, obviously unable to hear me.

"A panic attack," I said in a normal tone. "Whenever I'm under a lot of stress or if I feel certain emotions my body does that to cope."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "What brought it on?"

My face paled and I looked down at my lap. "I don't know," I lied.

Ed narrowed his eyes at me. "You're lying," he said. "I can tell because you're not looking at me."

I looked up and focused on a random spot behind his head.

"You're still not looking," he said.

I glanced down before finally meeting his gaze.

"There. Now explain," he ordered.

I blinked and looked away. "When you mentioned bio alchemy I thought about Shao Tucker and what happened to his daughter Nina."

I looked back at him and saw the light in his golden eyes. There was a look on his face that was somewhere between hurt and shocked.

"That information hasn't been shared with the public," Ed said, in a soft-ish tone. "The military has kept almost that whole incident under wraps."

"I know," I said softly, all of my energy gone with the attack.

_There goes my whole story. I'm done for now. I've been in Amestris for almost a day and a panic attack blows my cover. What great luck I have._

"What else do you know?" Ed asked.

Once I started I couldn't stop. "I know about your past, and about your automail, and that Al is empty inside. I know that you guys had a run in with Scar and that Al got blown to bits while your arm was destroyed. You nearly gave yourself up for him. After that you had to visit Winry the mechanic so you could get a new arm. I also know how much you hate milk and that Winry's always trying to get you to drink it," I said, pausing to smile at that statement. I looked him in the eyes before momentarily closing mine. "I know a lot about you guys, what you've done, and a lot about the military. But before you say any thing, I'm not a stalker."

They were speechless, really and truly speechless.

"Please say something," I begged, almost desperate. I didn't want them to hate me; they were all I had at this point, with Opal being back home.

"How do you know all of this?" he questioned.

I swallowed again. "Can we go somewhere else to talk?"

Ed nodded. He stood up from his chair and Al followed his lead. I stood up and smoothed out my skirt.

_I need other clothes. This uniform is quickly getting on my nerves._

I followed Ed down the stairs and past the two guards.

"Uh, Fullmetal..." Brosh started.

"We're going to the hotel," Ed said bluntly.

I limped down the street, wincing slightly with each step I took on my left leg. _Dammit. I thought that bullet had come out the other side of my leg, but they must have had to dig it out. I wish painkillers were easily available, because my leg hurts like hell._

A few blocks away was the hotel they were staying at. It took me a moment before the fact this was where I'd be staying as well sank in.

We got inside and was faced with yet something else to make my day.

_Ah, my old enemy; stairs, _I quoted as I glared at the annoyance before me.

"What I'd do for an elevator right about now," I said to myself as I followed behind them. _Invented in England and America, so of course this world doesn't have anything like it. _

Ed opened the door to their room and held it open for me. I nodded a thank you as I stepped in.

I saw two beds, a couch, and a coffee table. In the corner was another door that I assumed led to a bathroom.

The door closed and the two of them stepped over to the couch and sat down. Ed gestured for me to come over. Hesitantly, I limped over and sat on the edge of the coffee table.

I looked down as I started speaking.

"So how much do you want me to tell you?" I asked.

Ed was the first to speak. "I want to know how you know so much about us."

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, thinking about how much I should say.

|•|Ed |•|

Ed folded his arms over his chest and frowned at Ari, who was refusing to look at them. She was about to speak when he cut her off.

"Look at us when you're talking," he ordered.

Ari froze before slowly glancing up. "Okay."

She looked from one brother to the other before starting her story.

"Where I'm from you guys a fairly famous," she said. "There's a large number of people that know your story and who you are. The plush is sorta like a representation of what you look like. There are a good number of people with things like that."

"Where are you from?" Al asked.

Ari bit her lip as she thought about an answer. "It's really complicated and there's a chance you guys will think I'm insane."

"We've seen some pretty crazy stuff," Ed commented. "Go on."

There was a brief moment of silence. "It's hard to explain, but the simplest way I can say it is that I'm from the other side of the gate."

Ed's eyes grew wide as saucers. "What do you mean?"

She smiled slightly and looked away. "I told you it was complicated." She paused and looked back at them. "Should I explain from the beginning?"

"That sounds good," Al said. Ed looked at his brother and relaxed his face.

She nodded and began. "When I got home from school I found a little black bag and a letter. The letter told me to wish for something, but with limitations; for example I couldn't kill anyone or wish for the dead to come back to life. I thought of coming to Amestris, and found myself face to face with Truth. He told me to open the bag and tell me what I saw."

Ed watched as her hand touched her neck. "Well?" he said.

Her voice was shaky as she continued. "I pulled out a necklace; the pendant was silver with a red gem set in the middle. I thought it was a ruby, but the gem turned out to be a Philosopher's Stone."

Ed's eyes grew wider and Al gasped.

"Truth used some of the Stone as payment to send me over here, but first he embedded the necklace into my skin."

Ed looked where her hand was touching. When she dropped her hand he now understood why the necklace looked like it did; it was attached to her.

Ari didn't stop there. "Truth told me that if I wanted I could use the remainder of the stone as payment to get back home. I tried back at Central Command, but it didn't work."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

Ari frowned back. "I mean, that I tried to activate the stone but it didn't work." She sighed before she lied down on the coffee table and stared at the ceiling. "Though now that I think about it, Opal is the only one I'd go back for."

"Who's Opal?" Al asked.

"My best friend," she explained. "I've known her since the sixth grade and she's like my sister." Ari closed her eyes and the corners of her mouth twitched upwards. "God I miss that crazy blonde. She'd be so jealous of me if she knew where I am right now."

"Jealous?" Ed commented.

Ari laughed slightly and a smile spread across her face. "She's another person who knows about this place. She said that one day she'd find a way to come over and bring me with and we'd meet you guys. It was a joke though, because we didn't really believe this place was real. It's more of a story than an actuality."

Ed continued to frown. "Well we're obviously real."

She laughed again and met his gaze. "I can hardly believe it. I'm looking directly at you, Al too." She looked over at the younger brother when she said this. "I would have taken those stories more seriously had I known that before."

"So you never thought that we could be real?" Al said.

Ari shook her head. "This may sound rude but I can honestly say I didn't think there was a chance of you guys actually existing." She got flustered as she tried to fix things. "But I'm happy you really are real! I know so much about you guys it would put the original author to shame."

Ed looked uncomfortable and she tried to fix this one as well. "I-I'm not creepy, I swear!" she said, holding her hands up. Her face flamed as she put them down. "I guess you could say I'm one of you guys' biggest fans. All that admiring stuff I mentioned back at Central Command was true."

The corners of Ed's mouth turned up slightly as she said all this. _Fan of us? Yeah the last name "Elric" is famous but I don't think either of us have ever had fans before._

Ari continued on. "Being able to go through hell and pick yourself up when things get bad; it's a trait that I find admirable. When things turn to shit for me, my body tries to shut down. You saw back at the library how I was and trust me when I say you don't want to be around when things get really bad. I've had one complete meltdown in my life and that was a couple years ago..." Ari trailed off and bit her lower lip when she said this, as if to make sure she didn't say anything more.

Al didn't interpret this as 'I don't want to talk about it.' He carried on the conversation.

"Is it okay to ask what happened?" he asked her. When he did so, Ed wanted to smack his brother across the back of the head.

_Leave it alone! She doesn't want to explain! _

"Yeah, it's okay," Ari said in a tone familiar to him; a combination of reluctance and sadness.

Ed was appalled. _Don't give in!_

Ari inhaled and exhaled as if something might happen. There was a sad look on her face as she spoke that made Ed feel guilty. "My dad died in your average car wreck a couple years back. Opal was over at my house and my mom had walked in, her face completely dry. She told me what had happened and then turned away. I couldn't believe it and thought she was lying, but when I realized she wasn't I shattered. Opal stayed there with me all night, trying to get me to calm down. I'm pretty sure that was the trigger my body needed to start doing this."

She breathed deeply, before putting on a fake smile. "I'm sorry for rambling like that," she said to the brothers. She turned to Ed and said, "You'd been talking about some guy in the west?"

The guilty feeling grew as the forced smile turned into a sad one. To get away from the last conversation Ed continued from where he left off in the library.

"There's a retired State Alchemist named Walter Glass whose specialty used to be bio alchemy. There's been some suspicious activity going on over there that Mustang wanted me and Al to check out."

The sad smile turned into a normal one. "And now I'll be coming as well. You guys probably never thought that you'd have to be guards for someone from a different world," Ari said, amusement in her voice.

"I can honestly say that kind of thought has never occurred to me," Ed said, giving her something of a smile in return.

A couple hours later it was starting to get dark. Luckily for Ari the brothers normally got a two bed hotel room to make them seem less suspicious.

Once night hit Ari took off her black sweater and crawled into the extra bed. The lights went off and all was quiet.

•|• Ari •|•

It was more than uncomfortable having to sleep in the same room as two guys.

_They aren't the type that would do anything, but it's still unbelievably creepy. _

I tried to close my eyes and relax, but I could hear Ed breathing in the bed beside mine. My house was always so quiet. I couldn't sleep well whenever I had friends over because I wasn't alone.

_Suck it up Ari_, I commanded myself. _You're stuck with them unless the military says otherwise, and if they do say otherwise then it can't be good._

I sighed and turned over on my side so that I was facing the wall instead of Ed's bed_. Here's hoping that whichever lineup this is we all get to live._

|•| Ed |•|

Ed couldn't sleep. He wasn't used to having a person in his room other than Al. It was worse because in this case it was a girl and she was going to be with them until the military came to a conclusion on her story.

_Knowing Mustang he's just going to push this case aside on his desk and leave her with us. I can't believe that bastard's ranked at Colonel._

Ed sighed and closed his eyes. His gripes were forgotten as he drifted into unconsciousness.

**A/N: Here we go! The next chapter could be up at any point during the week, so be on alert. We're heading to Tyria! And to all you RPG lovers, yeah it's the name of the world for Guild Wars 2. (Sigh) God I am such a freaking dork/nerd. And to make things weirder I named my practice character after Ari. (SIGH)**

**Well RPGs aside, who likes it? I'll eventually throw away the storylines you know by heart and replace it with my version of an evil bad guy. This fanfic will be awesome. But for now please review. This was a background chapter, but if you think about Brotherhood you notice that the second episode was all background up until the end. Oh well. Stay soft my fluffies and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello! Merry Christmas! In my family we get to open one gift on Christmas Eve, so I'm giving you a gift tonight. **

**So sorry that it's taken me forever to update, but I've been focused on my other fan fiction, TSSA. I have an idea of how I'm going to finish that one, and I've actually got more than enough ideas to go all out on this story. If I time everything just right there could even be a sequel, but let's not get too concerned about that just yet. I'm just happy I managed to get working on this.**

**Well Ed's starting us off this time, so see ya at the end.**

|•|_ Ed_|•|

The first thing Ed noticed when he woke up was the empty bed beside him.

He frowned and blinked the sleep out of his eyes. _Where did she go?_ he thought.

As his vision adjusted he noticed that the blanket that was on the bed had been pulled down off of the bed. Ed raised an eyebrow and looked down. A smile spread across his face when he saw Ari splayed out on the floor, the blanket wrapped around her. He was close to laughing but didn't for fear of waking her up.

_That has to be the funniest thing I've seen in a while_, he thought as he sat up. _She must've fallen off and not noticed. _

He continued looking at Ari as she started to wake up. Her eyes opened slightly and met Ed's gaze. She frowned as she looked at him.

"Why are you above me?" she asked sleepily, not noticing any of her surroundings.

Ed laughed and she frowned. "What's so funny?"

Ari sat up and rubbed her eyes. She continued to frown as she looked around. It took a few moments for her to realize what had happened. When she finally did her face turned an interesting shade of red. "Oh," she said. "So that's what happened."

•|• Ari •|•

My face flushed from embarrassment. _What an interesting way to start the day. _

A loud yawn escaped from my lips as I worked the blanket off of me. While doing so, I discovered that the uniform skirt I was wearing had ridden up and was dangerously close to exposing parts I'd rather keep covered. The embarrassed red on my face from earlier only grew as I scrambled to fix my clothes.

Luckily for me it didn't see as if either of the two had noticed.

I got up and sighed. I reached for my sweater and pulled it on. _I still hate this uniform. I wonder if I can talk these two into getting me other clothes._

An imaginary light bulb blinked above my head at this thought. I looked over as Ed was heading towards the bathroom. The door closed and I glanced over at Al, who was sitting quietly against the wall.

I felt my heart jump when I saw him. He looked so lonely and depressed sitting all alone. I stepped over and looked down at him.

"Good morning Al," I said with a smile.

His metal head moved to look up at me. "Oh, good morning Ari," he said.

"Are you okay?" I couldn't help asking.

"Yeah I'm fine. Why?"

"You look kinda unhappy. You're just over here all alone. It must be tough to be stuck like this..." I put a hand to my mouth to stop myself. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he said as he got up.

I heard the bathroom door open and close and I turned to see Ed. He was now wearing his trademark outfit and braid.

The light bulb came back as I asked, "What time does the train leave for Tyria?"

"Not for another couple hours." Ed said as he glanced at the grandfather clock. "Why do you ask?"

"Can I ask a favor?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "What kind of favor?"

"I wanted to know if you would be willing to get me different clothes." I gestured to what I was wearing. "My school uniform isn't very practical."

Ed blinked and looked at my clothes. He shrugged and went with it. "I don't see why not."

A huge smile stretched across my face. "Oh my god, thank you so much. I fricking hate wearing this."

"Why?" he asked as his eyebrow rose.

"My school makes us wear these uniforms every day," I explained. "It's a private school back in my home town."

Ed nodded.

The three of us went out a little while later after Ed had finished packing up.

There was a clothing store around the block that we went into. Ed and Al stayed to the side while I looked around. Because of the uniform I never really bothered with that many other clothes, so I was attracted to almost everything.

My eyes caught sight of a red turtle-neck with short sleeves. A smile stretched across my face as I grabbed it. Along with that I found a pair of long black pants. I took my finds into a changing room and was surprised to find how comfortable everything was. A smile hit my face when I noticed the price tags. Both of the items together wouldn't be that expensive. I didn't want to have to make them spend any more than they had to.

After transforming back into school girl Ari I took my new outfit to my guards.

"This is good," I told them.

Ed nodded and went to pay.

He came back with the clothes in a bag. He handed it to me and said, "The cashier said you could change into that here if you wanted."

I nodded and did just that.

When I was done I pulled my sweater back on and walked out.

_I can keep this, but I'd rather burn the rest of it_, I thought as I stuffed the polo and skirt into the bag. I stepped out and sighed.

"What made you choose that?" Al asked when I'd walked back over to them.

I looked down at the shirt and shrugged. "I wanted something that would cover the stone and this seemed right. And I can't stand wearing skirts."

He nodded and Ed cleared his throat to get our attention. We both looked at him and he spoke.

"If we're all done here then let's get back to the hotel. I need to grab my suitcase and it's almost time for the train to come."

I nodded and followed them out.

•|•|•|•

The train station was ridiculously crowded.

"This is worse than the New York airport during the holidays," I said, my eyes wide as I looked around.

"What are you talking about?" Ed asked.

I looked at his confused face and sighed. "I'll explain when we're seated."

He nodded and we began making our way to the train that just pulled up.

We found a car that was pretty empty. Once we'd sat down, me in a seat in front of Ed and Al, I began to tell them about my world.

"So what's an airplane?" Ed asked after I explained airports.

After giving it a lot of thought I came up with a simple explanation. "It's basically this giant metal tube with wings that can fly. A lot of people can fit inside and it can move a lot faster than a train."

He raised an eyebrow. "That's crazy."

"Not really," I said as I leaned against the back of the train bench, my elbows up like an anime character. "On my world we've gone in a direction that focuses more on technology." The nerd inside me kept going, not even caring about the years. "Back in 1903, the first glider was made, and then in the 1930s the first jet engine was made..."

The color in my face drained when I realized how much I was rambling on about.

The guys looked at me, Ed's face full of confusion. If Al wasn't in the armor then I was certain he'd have to same expression.

"You realize your talking about twenty years in the future," Ed said.

"Heh, yeah," I said, rubbing the back of my neck with one of my hands. "I, uh... that's also pretty complicated."

He frowned. "So you're not going to tell us?"

I swallowed and gave it some thought. "You guys believe my story, right?"

There was a moment of silence before Ed spoke again.

"Well it doesn't sound like you're lying..."

My hands clenched into fists and I leaned forward so that I was closer to him. His eyes grew wide as he pushed into the back of the seat.

"That's not enough," I hissed through gritted teeth. "I can make anything sound plausible because I do theater, but I swear to god that I'm telling the truth right now."

There was another moment of silence. I relaxed slightly and sat against the seat. My hands stayed in a fist position.

"I believe you," Al's little boy voice said. I looked up at him and smiled.

Ed returned to his original position and he folded his arms over each other. "I guess I do too," he said. "I mean, there doesn't seem to be any better explanation for what's happened."

I nodded.

"So will you tell us?" Al asked.

"Yeah, okay," I said. My hands relaxed and I started. "Back home the year was 2012, almost 2013. Apparently there's some kinda gap in the times between the gates; about 98 years if I got the year right."

"So not only are you from another world, you're from another future as well," Ed said.

I slumped. "Yeah. It sounds insane doesn't it?"

"We've seen some pretty crazy stuff before, but your story tops it."

I sighed and looked up at him. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

"I have a few questions," he said.

His 'few questions' led onto even more questions. I spent the majority of the train ride answering everything I could. Surprisingly enough alchemy didn't come up until the end. They were more interested in everything else my side has to offer.

_Weird,_ I thought as I went on. _I never get the chance to ramble about stuff like this. Science and history doesn't usually come up in a regular conversation_.

Finally Al asked me about what kind of alchemy there was.

"It doesn't really exist," I answered easily.

Ed's jaw dropped. "What do you mean?"

"It died out a few centuries ago," I said as I leaned back in my seat. We'd been talking for long enough that they knew what timeline I was going with. "I remember reading about how the ultimate goal was to create an elixir for immortality. It was referred by some as the Philosopher's Stone, same as over here. But your kind of alchemy doesn't work on the other side, so it was more or less a failed practice."

"It's hard to imagine our world with out alchemy," Ed said. He was slouched in his seat with his arms folded across his chest.

_I guess that's what mine is for._

The train slowed down and the wheels squealed as we reached our stop. Ed grabbed his suitcase and we began walking down the street.

"Where are we going?" I asked, not directing my attention at anyone in particular.

Ed answered. "We're going to have to find an inn or hotel first. Tomorrow we check out the address Mustang gave me."

Nodding I started looking around. The town seemed to be completely empty. This sort of quiet was somewhat unsettling.

"It's like a ghost town," I thought out loud.

My heart nearly stopped when I heard a door slam. I turned around and saw a woman. My sigh of relief was cut short when she started talking.

"Who are you?" she questioned. There was terror in her dark eyes, as if she'd seen a ghost.

"I'm Edward Elric, a State Alchemist," Ed said. "This is my brother, Alphonse, and our... companion, Ari."

_Companion?_ I thought as my eyebrow rose. _What is this? Doctor Who?_

"Can you help us?" he went on. "We're looking for a place to stay..."

"No!" the woman screamed. "I can't trust the State after what's happened! They did this!"

The guys and I were dumbstruck when she said this.

"What are you talking about?" Ed asked calmly.

She trembled as she spoke. "Th-the State sent him here. That demon man with his crazy experiments. The missing people..."

"Shauna!" another voice said, this time male. "I told you to stay inside."

We all turned to look at the same spot. A man down the street was standing in the doorway of a building. It was the only one with lights on.

The woman, Shauna seemed to be her name, clenched her fists and yelled, "It's too tense in there!"

The man sighed before looking at us. "Would you like to come inside?"

After Ed agreed, we found ourselves sitting in the commons of a small inn. The man, it became known to us that his name was Lewis, gave us a room to use and he was about to explain some things. All the while Shauna stood off to the side, her arms crossed defensively.

"Please pardon my sister's rudeness," he apologized. "Things have been pretty tough these past couple years."

"Tough!?" Shauna cut in loudly. "You're just going to cover things up!?"

"Hush! You're exaggerating."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "And you're an idiot. I saw him. That man has been taking people..."

"Be quiet," he warned. Her glare only hardened as she kept her mouth shut.

_Wow, you can feel the tension_, I thought as I looked from one to the other.

Lewis sighed as he turned back to us.

"What is she talking about?" Ed asked as he leaned forward on his knees.

Shauna started to speak again, but was cut off by her brother. He looked at her with daggers in her eyes. I swallowed as he turned back towards us. The evil in his eyes was still there, but I didn't feel safe around him.

_There's something off about this guy_, I thought as I shifted in my seat. _He's got something to hide._

"There have been some... strange occurrences going about in this town," he explained. Shauna continued glaring at him and I could tell she was pissed off at him.

_Yea, he's got a secret._

Lewis went on. "People have been disappearing whenever they go towards the other end of town. This has concerned many others and there are conspiracy theories floating around. One of the main ones is the idea that Mr. Glass has been kidnapping these people."

Shauna stomped her foot and smacked her brother on the back of the head. "That's no conspiracy, Brother! I saw him with my own eyes! He held up some stone and there was a weird red light. The next thing I knew he was walking off with James from the bakery."

_Wait, _I thought. _A stone and a red light? Could it be...?_

Lewis was about to say something, but Ed interrupted him to speak to Shauna.

"Can you show me where this all took place?" he asked calmly.

The terror in her eyes came back and my heart skipped a beat.

She stammered as she spoke. "I-I can't. H-he'll be there if we go, I just know it."

_Do we really have to try and find trouble!?_ I thought as I gripped the ends of my sleeves.

"Please Miss Shauna," Al asked in his little boy voice. I looked up at him and the edge of my mouth turned up slightly.

_Adorable!_ I thought as I mentally fangirled. _I love Al, he's just so cute!_

I was brought back into this world when I noticed how pissed of Lewis looked. Shauna was hesitant and she got warning looks from him. She glared once more at her brother before nodding in our direction.

"Sure," she said as she started for the door. Shauna held it open for us and we all walked out.

My heart pounded as I thought about everything that could happen once we got to the spot. I continued to grip my sleeves as we walked down the street.

_Panic attacks and paranoia are two things that should never mix, but for some reason they go together like chocolate and marshmallows._

Shauna stopped walking and pointed to an area further away. The sun was long gone by now and the dim street lights didn't do much to improve the visibility of my surroundings. This, of course, didn't help me any.

"I was standing here when I saw him," she said. "That Glass man reached into his pocket and pulled out something. He held it up and there was this weird red light. The next thing I saw was James walking away with him."

I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, and for good reason.

Footsteps sounded from down the street. An old man with white hair came into view.

"Hello children," he said. His voice was deep and dripping with a sinister evil.

Shauna brought her hand down and it clenched into a fist. "What do you want Mr. Glass!?" she demanded.

My eyes grew wide as he got closer. _On the bright side, at least I haven't melted down yet._

"Those strong souls you have there. There are three of them," he stated as he continued moving forward. "How about I take them off of your hands for you?"

Shauna narrowed her eyes at him. "There's no way I'm going to let you lay so much as a finger on these children."

I looked up at her but my attention was once again drawn to Walter Glass. My heart pounded as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small red stone and my eyes grew wide at the sight of it.

A hot burning sensation ran throughout my body. My hands reached up to my neck as my legs gave out. I let out a quiet moan that brought everyone's attention to me.

"What's going on Ari?" Ed asked, slight panic in his voice.

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out.

_What the hell is going on!?_ I thought as my neck started to heat up. I lowered my hands and my eyes grew wide at the fact that my shirt glowing.

"Well now," Glass said. "What have we here?"

**A/N: CLIFFY! Mwahahahaha! Am I not evil? I make you wait about a month for another chapter and it's a cliff hanger. Oh well, if you really care then you'll be fine waiting. I don't think too many of you out there really do though. Tell me how much you want another chapter in a review and maybe I'll find extra motivation. Until then, stay soft and have holiday fun with your family :3**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sup fluffies! How's life going for you? I'm so happy that you people have reviewed… (looks over at the**___**two**_** extra reviews)… we need to work on that. I know how many of you are following this -_-**

**Oh well. You're dying to know what is going to happen to Ari, so let's move on.**

**Disclaimer: Hopeless-chan no own FMA, FMA: B, or the Soul Eater references you see towards the end. I own the title, some plot points, and my multitude of OCs to come.**

•|• _Ari_ •|•

_What the hell is this!? _I thought. My hands were once again gripping the bottom of my throat. Had it not been for the turtle neck on my shirt I would have clawed at my skin.

_I don't get it! Why is my Stone reacting like this? In the original anime Scar's tattoos did stuff, but that's completely different!_

My heart started pounding and my lungs stopped letting air in.

One of my hands made a fist, gripping the shirt. I couldn't hear anything outside of my heart's pounding and my thoughts.

_God dammit! You're really going to melt now!? You weakling!_

One voice broke through everything. It wasn't Truth, Ed, Al, or Shauna. Any of them would have put me at ease (yes, even Truth), but this only made things worse.

"What have we here?" Glass's voice said, cutting through all the commotion going on inside of my head. "It seems you have something that I want."

I didn't look up at him as I sneered. Pulling all of my strength together, I managed to say, "Like h-hell you're g-getting this. I-I need i-it…"

His voice got louder as he got closer. "And what would someone like you need it for?"

I couldn't speak. All the came were the hot tears that streamed down my face, and a soft moan as the last of my energy was drained.

"Let's have some fun."

|•| _Ed _|•|

Ed watched in horror as Ari slumped over on the ground. The Stone on her chest shined a bright red through her shirt, lighting up the area where she was on the ground.

_What's going on? _he wondered, eyes now drawn to Glass. The silver haired man was reaching for her.

Ed's hands clenched into fists as he glared at him. "Don't touch her!" he shouted, taking a step forward to cut Glass off.

He looked up at Ed and stood so that he was towering over him. "Or else what? Do you expect me to be afraid of a little boy?"

Ed's eye twitched before he exploded. "Who are you calling small enough to drown in a drop of water!?"

No one was certain as to how to react, up until Glass started laughing.

"Well that was unexpected!" he said between laughs. Ed glared at him as his laughter died down.

Ignoring the outburst, Ed carried on. "Why are you kidnapping people?" he questioned. "And what do you need the Stone for?"

Glass looked up at him and frowned. "Let me ask you this: do you know what the key ingredient in a Philosopher's Stone is?"

"We had been looking into Dr. Marcoh's research before we were sent here on our job, but we hadn't figured that out yet."

"Marcoh, huh?" Glass said with a nod. "Well, in that case I won't spoil the surprise."

Ed's glare only hardened. "Then answer my other question. What do you need the Stone for?"

The laughter returned. He looked at Ed before returning his gaze to Ari. "Isn't it obvious? I want power! Why else would any alchemist want it so badly? The amazing powers and abilities it possesses… here before you is an example of a Stone; pure and complete in every way. Humans are naturally selfish creatures, yet for whatever reason you've let her hold onto it. I must say it's impressive."

"I can't take it from her," Ed said, not taking his eyes off of him. "She needs it for something important."

Glass turned back to Ed, his eyebrow raised. "And what exactly does she need it for?"

There was an eerie silence among the crowd until Ed spoke up.

"I can't tell you that," he said, hands now in tight fists. "It's not for you to know."

Glass sighed. "What a pity. I guess I'll just have to take it by force."

He held out his Stone and pointed it at Ed. The Stone shined red before fading out. Glass's forehead furrowed in confusion until the light from Ari's Stone got brighter.

Ed took a step back as she sat up on her knees.

_What's going on here? That can't be Ari_, he thought, shielding his eyes from the light.

The red light continued shining and only got brighter as she stood. By the time she was on her feet the light was blinding.

"What is this!?" Glass exclaimed. "My Stone! It's gone!"

Ed's eyes grew wide as he looked over at her before shielding them again. _Did her Stone absorb that one?_

The light went out for a brief moment. Ari's eyes were closed and there was a pained expression on her face.

"What the…" he started.

The light's returning cut him off. A bright red burst was aimed like a laser at Glass.

"Wait! What are you doing!?" he questioned, hands up in protest.

The voice that came out of Ari's mouth sent chills down Ed's spine.

"_You're a perfect example of an arrogant human. Along with this you have dared to endanger my toy so now you shall receive punishment_," Truth's icy cold voice said, cutting through the air.

"No! Please you can't…" he was cut off by what could only be described as an explosion. The red light lit up the whole street and a blood curdling scream cut through the air like a knife.

When the light finally disappeared, Glass's body was crumpled on the ground and Ari was still standing.

Her body began to sway and she started to fall to the ground. Ed was able to react quickly and hurried over to keep her from falling.

"What was that all about!?" Shauna exclaimed as she hurried over.

He kept his hold on Ari as he looked up at her and Al. Ed shook his head and said, "I have no clue."

She sighed. "What are we going to do about that?" she asked as she directed her attention at Glass's body.

_Crap. I nearly forgot about that. I'm pretty sure he's dead considering what's been going on…_ He shuddered at this thought and turned back towards the other two.

"Let's deal with that later," he said, changing the topic. "We need to do something about Ari for right now."

_If something happens to her, Mustang's gonna have my head on a stake._

•|• _Ari_ •|•

My eyes snapped open and the first thing I saw was the wooden ceiling of the room I was in. My breathing was heavy from fright and my heart was pounding. As my mind cleared out the sleep I started to get frustrated.

_What the hell happened!? I can't remember anything!_

I went over what I could remember and I realized where I was.

_How did I get back to the inn? Where are Ed and Al? What happened after I blacked out?_

Questions swam throughout my mind as I tried to figure things out.

I heard a soft "click" as a door opened. I turned to look and saw Shauna. I still had questions but they were all pushed aside when she started speaking.

"It's good to see you awake," she said as she came into the room. She leaned against the wall beside the door. "We weren't sure if you'd ever wake up. The boys were distraught when you stayed out of it for so long."

Not sure of how to react, I pushed myself up into a sitting position. This wasn't a good idea. There was a throbbing pain in my skull caused me to groan with pain.

"Well that was smart," Shauna said sarcastically.

I narrowed my eyes in her direction and glared at her. "What, no empathy for the injured?"

She shrugged, causing me to sigh in irritation. I pulled my legs up to my chest rested my forehead on my knees.

"Thanks for telling us that she woke up," Ed's voice said, his words dripping with an annoyed attitude.

"You're very welcome," Shauna said with the same tone as Ed.

I glanced up and saw the guys standing in the doorway. They both came in and Ed sat on the couch I hadn't seen before now. Al stood beside his brother.

Shauna looked from me to them and then back at me. She sighed. "I'll go get you guys some dinner. Better if I'm not around."

She walked out of the room and closed the door. I looked over at the guys.

"What happened?" I asked.

Ed turned to face me before looking away. The expression on his face was a mix of so many things I couldn't place what it was. It was unsettling when they didn't say anything.

I moved to the edge of the bed and faced them, my mood now agitated. "Come on! I can't remember anything, I have this throbbing pain in my head, and you guys have gone mute. Please just tell me."

He looked back at me and sighed. I sat back as he went on to tell me everything that had happened.

When he was finished with the story I felt sick. They didn't know what had happened to Glass but I did.

My hands reached for the Stone and my eyes grew wide in horror. _I killed him. Truth may have done it, but it was me he used to do it._

"What is it?" Ed asked when he saw the expression on my face.

I held my face in my hands and shook my head. "This can't be happening," I thought aloud, ignoring his question.

"Answer me Ari," he demanded. "What's wrong?"

I didn't look up at him as I spoke, mainly because my words were my thoughts. "I killed him. His blood is on my hands and his soul is still here."

"What are you talking about?" he questioned, half irritated and half concerned. "Truth killed him."

It was as if my mind and mouth were disconnected. I kept mumbling nonsense while I listened to him.

"His soul is still here. It's in my Stone," I answered once my head was back on.

The guys were taken aback. I looked at them between my fingers and saw Al stiffen and Ed's gold eyes had grown wide.

"What do mean by that?" Al asked his voice shaky.

I cursed under my breath so they wouldn't hear me. _What do I do now!? _I thought frantically. _If I tell them it'll mess with any story line you follow!_

Eventually I figured out what I would tell them.

I put my hands down and stared down at my lap. "I can't tell you…"

"And why the hell can't you!?" Ed exclaimed, interrupting me. He slammed his hands against the couch cushion before standing to look down at me.

My heart pounded in my chest and it was now my turn to look with wide eyes. I was scared of him. My favorite character had me frozen with fear.

There was fire in his eyes as he kept talking. "Why can't you tell us the truth!? Al and I are affected by this as much as you are! I'm tired of this! I believed you before but you're hiding something!"

"Brother…" Al started. He was cut off when Ed continued ranting.

"Maybe I should just hand you back over to Mustang and the military! It would save us a lot of trouble…!"

"Edward!" Al shouted to get his older brother's attention. Ed turned away from me to look at him.

"What?" he said, his tone pissed off.

"Can't you see how scared she is right now!?" Al said as he pointed at me.

Ed's forehead furrowed as he looked over at me. His face fell and the fire in his eyes burned out.

My heart was racing and my breathing had gotten heavy. It wasn't an attack. I could tell because my throat hadn't close off my air supply. This time it was just fear.

The only thing I could think of doing was running out.

|•| _Ed _|•|

Ed looked back at Ari and finally realized what he'd said.

Her hazel eyes were wide with fear and the color had drained from her face.

"Ari…" he trailed off. He'd never had to deal with something like this and he didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry," she said, voice weak. She cleared her throat and got off of the bed. She looked at both of them with a hard expression on her face. "I had more to say, but I guess that doesn't matter to you."

"I…" Ed started. _Why did I have to do that?_

She pushed past them and left the room.

"Where are you going?" he questioned.

"Away from here!" she snapped back. Her slow pace quickened, turning into a run as she disappeared down the stairs.

Ed stood there, unsure of what to do, until something hard hit the back of his head. He was pushed down to the ground and tried to catch himself, though all he succeeded in doing was landing on his face.

He pushed himself up and looked up at his little brother. "What the hell was that for!?"

"You're a hopeless idiot!" Al exclaimed. Ed was taken aback with this while Al kept going. "She couldn't even explain because you decided to go off and yell at her! She was terrified of you just then! And then you threatened to take her to the military! Why!? That would have scared anyone half to death, but with her situation she'll probably never come back!"

Silently admitting defeat, Ed clenched his hands into fists and he ran out of the room. He nearly crashed into Shauna, who had been coming up with a tray, when he reached the stairs. He ignored her presence and ran out of the inn.

"What's going on!?" she called out to him. She huffed when she was ignored still.

A crash of thunder put him on alert. Ed looked up at the sky and saw dark grey clouds. As if the world had it out for him, the skin around his automail had started to throb.

Ignoring the pain, he started down the street and looked everywhere.

Once he'd hit the edge of town, he was more than frustrated. _Where the hell could she have gone? She doesn't know the area and she wouldn't be able to ride the train without a ticket. She doesn't have money so that doesn't seem possible._

Fed up with the situation, Ed cupped his hands near his mouth and called, "Ari! Where are you!?"

The only answer he got was another crash of thunder and a couple dozen raindrops hitting him in the face.

Deciding to turn around, he sighed and started running.

_She'll have to come back soon now. There's no way that she's just going to stay out in the rain._

Al lectured him when he got back to the inn. Once he was done they both stayed in the commons, waiting for Ari to return.

She never did and it wasn't long before Shauna noticed that her brother had disappeared as well.

_Why did I have to yell at her?_ Ed thought when he discovered this.

•|• _Ari_ •|•

I'd found a dry spot in an alley to sit out the rain. I frowned when it didn't show any sign of letting up.

_Well this is just great. I'm stuck in a parallel universe, my only opportunity of finding a way back home hates me, and it's raining. What did I ever do to deserve this kinda punishment?_

Thunder snapped overhead and I could hear the rain get harder. I glared at the streets as I hugged my knees.

I held myself tighter as I rested my forehead on my knees. _Truth, you're an ass._

"Miss Ari," a familiar voice said. I frowned as I looked up. I saw Lewis with an umbrella. I still didn't trust the guy, but there was a chance of me getting indoors.

_Fool! _I thought, referencing an anime that was up in my list of favorites. _You can't go back to the inn with him. Ed and Al are there and Ed's gonna explode if he sees you again._

I thought about how angry he'd looked, and the way his hands were clenched made me fear for my life.

_I don't know how I'll deal with it if it he ends up hurting me. I didn't think that I could be so hated by someone outside of my family._

I smiled to myself at the unintentional reference.

"Would you please come with me?" he asked. "The others are concerned."

My smile disappeared. "Like hell. The guys are pissed at me and I'm not in the mood to get yelled at again."

"So your solution is to stay out here in the cold and rain? You'll get sick that way."

My attitude turned into that of a moody teenager, which I was at that point in time. "I don't care. I'm not going back and you can't make me."

Lewis's eyes narrowed at me. "Be careful what you say."

I narrowed my eyes at him in return. "What…?"

I didn't get the chance to speak. My words were cut off by a flash of red. The cold darkness overtook my mind as I blacked out once again.

**A/N: Mwahahahaha! Am I not an evil bitch? How many of you were suspicious of Lewis and how many of you were curious as to where he was throughout the duration of this chapter? Answer these questions in a review and maybe I'll update in a couple days ;)**

**So this chapter was interesting to write, mainly because I'm paranoid of how I'm making Ed sound. Is he too OOC or is it okay? The hardest part when writing this kinda thing is keeping the characters as they are.**

**Well remember to review and I'll see you guys later. Until then stay soft!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hi there! Just a quick question before we start: is it a bad thing that I like to put my OCs through a shit-ton of hell? **

**Today's special guest star, Myra: For us it is. **

**Ari: Agreed.**

**Me: (inching away from the angry OCs) Come on guys, have some heart for the author. You wouldn't exist without me…**

**Myra and Ari: (death stares)**

**So, uh, here have another chapter. These two might destroy me, so wish me luck…**

|•| _Ed _|•|

The rain only got harder and Ed's limbs got sorer as time went by. Ed was pacing the commons area as they waited for Ari to return.

_Where the hell is she?_ he thought.

"Hey guys," Shauna said as she walked into the room. They looked over at her. She had a worried look on her face.

"What is it?" Ed asked, momentarily halting his pace.

"I can't find Lewis. I looked in his office and in his room, but he doesn't seem to be here."

_First Ari and now Lewis_, Ed thought, his mind finally putting the pieces together. _He was trying to cover up what Glass was doing the other day. Are they working together?_

An idea came to mind. He clenched his hands in fists before running back upstairs.

The file with the address was in his suitcase. He snapped it open and pulled it out.

_Got it! So that's where they are_, he thought, an evil smile creeping up on his face.

"What are you doing, Brother?" Al asked as he stood in the doorway.

The blonde looked over at the suit of armor as the smile grew. "I think I know where Ari is."

•|• _Ari_ •|•

When I woke up, all my mind could process was that I was somewhere dark, cold, and that the pain in my thigh had returned.

Wincing as my eyes opened I started to ask myself questions again.

_Where am I this time? I remember Ed yelling and I remember Lewis finding me…_

It finally hit me that Lewis was the one who had knocked me out.

_Arg! Why am I so slow when it comes to things like this!?_ I thought sitting up as I face palmed. I regretted doing so when I moved my leg.

The depression I felt over my stupidity faded out when I heard footsteps. My body froze as a light shined on me.

"I didn't think that you'd be out for such a short period of time. It was a lot longer last time, wasn't it? Two days or so?" Lewis's voice said.

I shielded my eyes as the light hit my face. "What do you want?" I questioned, the pain in my leg forgotten.

The light lowered from my face as he spoke. "I'm after the same thing my colleague was after." He got closer and pointed to my neck. "That Stone."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How did you know?" I asked.

My eyes had finally adjusted and I could see the sly smile that had spread across his face. "It's not that hard to follow someone. I saw what you did to Walter Glass. He's in that Stone of yours isn't he?"

_He knows! _I thought. It was suddenly harder to breathe. I cleared my throat before speaking.

"What makes you think you'll have better luck than Glass did? You could end up just like him, just another soul among however many are in this," I stated. It was hard to hold my ground while I was snapping on the inside.

He simply laughed. I raised an eyebrow at this.

"Oh I know I'll have better luck," he said between laughs. When he stopped he looked down at me and said, "You may have gotten one Stone, but I still have mine."

My eyes grew wide with the memory of what happened before I blacked out. _Duh! Whatever he did was the same as when Glass got to me._

"Don't be afraid," he said with mock sincerity. "It'll all be over quickly. You're little friends won't even have the chance to find you. There are only a select few that know this address."

As he mentioned this my heart began to pound harder. It was already at a fairly fast pace because of the fact I was trapped, but the fear of him killing me for my Stone was starting to push me over the edge.

"It'll be quite poetic, won't it?" he said, the smile on his face even creepier. "Brought down by the thing that brought you over here. An interesting story indeed, I must say."

The shock of what he'd just said caused my heart to jump in my chest. My wide eyes only grew wider. "How do you know so much about me?" I demanded.

He laughed again before looking down at me with evil eyes. "I know plenty. I have friends that live on your side of the gate, you know. We have done so much looking into this you wouldn't believe it."

My jaw dropped when he said this. _Who are these people and how do they know about this?_

"What about Ed and Al? Do you have an interest in them?" I had to ask. This group was nothing I'd ever heard of in either of the series and the guys were always needed for something or the other.

Lewis shrugged. "My organization has no interest, but I'm certain someone does. A 12 year old boy managing to get into the military has obviously caught the attention of multiple people."

I nodded. _So these guys are just another enemy, but I'm certain that we'll get tangled in some other web._

"What I'm most interested in is how you got that Stone. One of the things my group has been trying to do is create a Stone that will allow us to travel freely between the dimensions. Yours has allowed you to just that. If we can get our hands on your Stone then we will have more than enough power."

"So you're going to kill an innocent teenage girl to do that?" I questioned, my eyes now narrowed at him.

His eyes narrowed in return. "If you hadn't realized we will kill anyone who stands in our way. That's how we have these particular Stones. A century of research has gone into the making of these and anyone who disturbs us will be eliminated and used in our… experiments."

The pounding in my head started to drown out the sounds of everything around me. _I'm going to die! What did I ever do to deserve this!? Why did I have to piss Ed off!? What's my mom going to say if she finds out I'm gone!? That man doesn't care so there's no need for me to even think about him. But what about Opal!? I didn't even see her after school the other day!_

"Stop that," Lewis commanded, as if knowing what I was thinking. "Just come with me like a good little girl and everything will go by smoothly."

A door slam and a clanging sound pulled me out of my daze.

"Get away from her!" was the first thing I heard before Lewis was face down on the ground.

My eyes grew wide as I looked up. Ed's gold eyes shined in the light as he held a hand out to me.

"Come on," he said. "Get up."

My heart beat slowed down as I reached up and he took my hand in his. I could feel the automail through the glove. It was a comforting feeling, knowing that he was here to help.

"I already called the military over at Western Command," he told me once I was on my own two feet. I was still holding onto his hand but he didn't seem to notice. "They should be here as soon as possible."

I nodded before looking down at Lewis. He was in the process of getting up when Ed kicked him square in the face with his right leg.

Wincing at the sight, I squeezed his metal hand harder. _Wow, even if it wasn't automail that had to have hurt._

Ed looked at me and said, "Let's get out of here."

I was hesitant to let go of his hand as we turned to go out, but I was unintentionally shaken off as he ran faster than me.

Al was standing in the doorway waiting for us. "The MPs are here already," he said.

I nodded as we all ran out of the building. I had to stay a foot or so behind because I had no clue where I was going.

Once we'd gotten outside I could see men in uniforms marching into the building I had just been in.

"Fullmetal Alchemist, sir!" an MP said as he moved over to us. "Would you like for us to take you to Western Command? You should be safe until this matter is resolved."

I spoke up. "Wait!" Everyone turned to look down on me. I felt tiny, but I ignored it and cleared my throat. "Uh, because he was planning on killing me he told me a lot about him and his accomplices." Ed was looking down at me with a look of shock in his eyes. I disregarded this reaction and continued speaking. "You should try to get as much information out of him as you can."

The MP nodded as he went on to tell another group.

Ed came around to face me. "What do you mean he was going to kill you? He was only after the Stone, wasn't he?"

I huffed in irritation. _They still don't know the main ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone. How jacked up will the timeline get if I tell them now? I mean they were working on finding out, but if tell them here how would they react?_

"I-I can't really explain," I said. I tensed up in preparation for Ed's explosion. When he didn't I let out a sigh of relief and kept going. "It has to do with what the Stone is made of."

Ed crossed his arms over his chest. "Why can't you tell us?"

"Because if I do, it might screw everything up," I said almost automatically. My hands were in fists and my teeth were clenched. The guys were taken aback with my reaction.

"What do you mean?" Al asked, trying to sound calm.

I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing. I was under a lot of pressure and their constant stares weren't helping.

My eyes opened and I looked back up at the two of them. "In all the stories I've heard about you guys, you learned what the key ingredient in a Philosopher's Stone was on your own. I don't want to mess with the real life version and god knows what'll happen if I tell you."

"Well we were close to cracking the code before we left, so what's the harm in telling us?" Ed questioned, still in the same position.

"…" He made a fairly good point. There didn't seem to be much that could happen, but even so I was reluctant to the idea. Whatever I did things would be different and this was just the beginning.

_The fact that Lewis and Shauna are here, along with Glass, is a sign that things were never going to go according to plan in the first place. What kind of direction are we headed in anyway?_

I looked at a random spot behind them before meeting Ed's gaze.

He sighed and turned toward the MP car. "If you don't want to tell us, that's fine. You say we need to find out on our own so we will."

"Err!" I huffed as he started to walk away. "Fine! I'll tell you!"

He looked over his shoulder at me. My eyes grew wide when I saw the devious glint in his gold ones.

_Damn you reverse psychology! _

"Y-you!" I stammered as I pointed an accusing finger.

He shrugged me off and smiled his own evil smile. "You made the decision to tell us all on your own. I didn't do anything."

My eye twitched as I growled at him.

"Fine," I huffed as I shoved my hands into my pockets. "Not here though. I'll do it when we're somewhere not so public."

Ed nodded and the three of us climbed into the large MP car. I sat beside him in the seat. As we drove away, the memories of what Lewis said swam through my thoughts.

I looked out the window but ended up closing my eyes. The passing scenery wasn't helping to clear my mind.

_If the guys hadn't shown up I'd be dead by now_, I thought, my eyes still closed._ Or in the process of dying at least. I really don't want to find out how a soul gets take from its body. _

My left hand unconsciously grabbed the closest thing to it. The uneasiness I was feeling faded when I did so.

Until Ed said this:

"What are you doing?"

My eyes snapped open and I looked over at him. He had one eyebrow up and was looking at me with confusion in his eyes.

Frowning, I looked down and realized that I was holding onto his automail hand.

_Oh_, I thought as my face turned a bright shade of red.

I immediately let go and stuffed my hands into my sweater pockets, turning my head away as I did so.

"I, uh… I'm sorry about that. I was thinking about something else." I started rambling as I looked out the window. "I figured it was better than me freaking out, so I just grabbed whatever was there. I thought your hand was just part of the car..." I trailed off and stopped talking.

My cheeks felt hot as I continued looking away. My eyes focused on the reflection on the window. I frowned when I saw the expression on Ed's face. It was impossible for me to read. I clenched my fist from irritation and felt my pocket restrict me from being able to do so.

I pulled my hand out and pressed it to my face. I leaned against it and the side of the car as my mind went into various directions.

_I'm such a freaking ditz. So much so it's starting to make things awkward_, I thought. I sighed and closed my eyes again.

Fragments of my near death experience kept finding their way into my thoughts. I gritted my teeth and held my breath.

_Life is not working for me right now. I know that I'm the one that wanted to come here, but I changed my mind. Come on Truth! Take me home! _My thoughts turned into pleas for help from this version of God. I'd never believed in an almighty sky being, but after my dad died I turned into a straight up atheist. Now with Truth I was forced to believe that there was something out there beyond the comprehension of mere humans.

The car came to a complete stop and I opened one eye. Both of them grew wide when I saw what I assumed was the Western Command center.

"We're here, Mr. Elric," the MP said as he opened the door. Ed nodded as he slid out, followed by Al and then me.

I kept my hands in my pockets as I gaped at the huge building.

Ed raised an eyebrow at me. "What kind of reaction is that?" he asked.

I blinked and looked over at him. "I've never seen one of the Command centers head on before."

The brow stayed up as he kept going. "What about back in Central?"

I scoffed. "I can't remember much of that. My leg was in a lot of pain at the time from being shot…"

Finally remembering, a shooting pain ran up my leg (no pun intended for my bullet wound) and I grimaced.

"What is it now?" he asked in the half-irritated/half-concerned tone that he had used on me multiple times by this point in time.

I shook my head and ignored the pain. "It's nothing. Let's just go inside."

Ed narrowed his eyes at me and frowned. He opened his mouth to say something, but the MP ushered us into the building.

We were all pushed into a room and left there. Some… words were exchanged between Ed and the officer before we the MPs finally left.

The room had a couple couches, a bookshelf, and a table stuffed inside of it. I sat down on one of the couches and the boys sat in front of me. This seemed to have become our usual position whenever someone had anything to say.

Ed had his arms folded over each other again and Al was still as a statue beside him.

I looked from one to the other and held my breath. _How in the hell can I tell them!? I know how hard their lives have been and how this broke their heart when they found out._

I let out the breath and closed my eyes. When I opened them I prepared myself for the conversation that was about to take place.

**A/N: Hello! So I managed to escape from the clutches of my OCs. They aren't happy… I know! Review and maybe they'll get distracted. **

**I don't have anything else to add, so until next time, stay soft! ^_^**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I didn't mean to ignore this, honest! I just have been buried up to my nose in other stuff since I last updated this. I'd been working on it since chapter 6, but only every now and then. To my followers: If you end up having to reread to understand, I'm once again sorry.**

**So on a different note I'm really happy with how this story has been going. To recap, in the last chapter we meet an organization that knows about the Gate and the other side. To add onto that they've crossed over before. You'll see their real motives in a little while, so keep them in mind. For now, please enjoy this next chapter and the humor somewhere in the middle. **

|•| _Ed _|•|

Ari wasn't looking at them. She kept stalling and seemed more than uncomfortable sitting there.

_If she knew she wouldn't be able to tell us, then why did she cave?_ Ed wondered as he watched her, his arms still folded across his chest. _While this is important, I don't want her pushing herself. I'm amazed that she's even somewhat mentally stable after all that's happened._

Ed opened his mouth to speak but her next reaction surprised him.

"Stop looking at me like that!" she exclaimed, pressing her face into her hands.

He raised an eyebrow as he relaxed his arms. "What do you mean?" he asked, leaning forward slightly to rest his elbows on his knees.

She glanced up at him before putting her face back down. "You keep looking at me as if I've been accused of killing Al and you're in the process of interrogating me."

The brothers were taken aback by this comment as she leaned back on her couch. Ari stared up at the ceiling as she went on. "It's already heavy in here and with you guys staring at me like that it's making me feel even more uncomfortable."

Ed sighed in irritation. "You realize we're not forcing you to tell us. If you want us to find out on our own then we will."

She shook her head in protest. "No," she said as she looked back at them. There was a certain determination in her eyes as she went on. "I want to tell you. It's killing me right now because then I could explain a lot to you guys, but it's impossible to say it in a way where you won't freak out."

After closing her eyes, Ari inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. She stayed in that position for a few moments, as if thinking about how to explain. She nodded to herself and opened her eyes.

"Remember back at the inn when I told you his soul was in my Stone?" Ari asked.

Ed blinked before nodding slowly in response.

"That's the key ingredient. It takes multiple human lives to be able to create even a sliver of the Stone."

The boys were staring at her, unable to fully process what she'd told them.

_What!?_ Ed thought. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. Ari swallowed and inched backwards when she saw the look in his eyes.

"After everything we've done to find the Stone, we find out that we'd be sacrificing other lives for our gain?" he said, trying to stay calm and not break something.

Ari nodded. "I'm sorry guys. I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news but there you have it."

"So that's why Lewis would have killed you," Al said. All eyes turned to him as he kept speaking. "Why just take the Stone if you can get more material for it along the way?"

The hazel eyed girl swallowed at the thought. Her face paled slightly before returning to its original color. "There's something else I need to tell you guys," she said.

The guys both looked back at her. Ed noticed that her hands were clenched and that she was no longer looking at them.

"Lewis knew that I'd crossed the Gate to get here and that I used this Stone to do it," Ari said. Ed's eyes grew wide.

"How does he know that? The only ones you told are in this room…"

"Lewis told me that he has friends on my side," she said, unintentionally cutting him off. "Apparently he's part of some group that's been doing research on how to freely travel from this side to the other."

The blonde blinked a couple times, unsure of how exactly he should react to this.

"That's why he wanted my Stone," she continued. "I was able to travel through the Gate with little consequence on my part. This was my payment…" She gestured to the Stone, which was still hidden behind the neck of her shirt. "…not an arm, leg, or something else like that. He wanted this because he figured that this Stone would explain why I didn't have a physical payment."

Ed nodded. "That would explain why both Lewis and Glass were after you. They were part of the same group and had the same goals. The only question now is why they want to cross over so badly. Your home is there so that's your reason, but why would a bunch of Amestrians want to cross over?"

Ari shrugged and shifted in her seat. "Beats me. In my opinion, my world pretty much sucks. My country won't get out of everyone else's business, there's always tension and war, and technology has the potential to take over if we advance it just a little bit more. I'm just happy I live in the middle of nowhere," she said with a slight smile.

The corner of Ed's mouth turned up at her last comment. His smile faded quickly as he thought about the Stone.

_This is crazy, _he thought to himself._ We just found out that our only hope of getting our bodies back requires others to die, and now we're joking about some place I'd never heard of before this. _

"I guess this helps to prove you're telling the truth," Al said. Everyone looked at him again. "Even if they're just claiming that they have people on your side, the idea of crossing the Gate has come up again."

There was a look of betrayal and shock on Ari's face. "You mean you still don't believe me!?" she exclaimed, surprising the two brothers when she stood to look down on them. "I was fricking kidnapped for the fact I came to this world and you still thought I was lying!?" The angry auburn huffed and flopped against the chair with her arms crossed over her chest. A certain evil flickered in her eyes as she spoke again. "I see how it is."

Ed raised an eyebrow. "See how what is?" he asked.

"You guys still don't trust me," she said. "Even after everything you guys still think I'm some liar that got forced upon you by Colonel Useless."

Ed smirked at the nickname for his commanding officer while Al protested against what she'd said.

"I did believe you! It's just that…" He trailed off as Ari continued to glare at him.

"That name for Mustang works perfectly though," Ed said.

Ari released her glare to look over at the blonde. She smiled slightly. "Opal came up with it. She's come up with a few insane things that'll make your skin crawl." She closed her hazel eyes as she shuddered. "Seriously, it's just plain creepy."

"This Opal person sounds insane," Ed stated as he relaxed in his seat.

Ari smirked as if she was recalling good memories. "Just a bit. Though seeing as creativity is a form of insanity, everyone could be considered crazy."

"Really?" Al asked, noticeably intrigued with this topic.

She nodded. She would have said something else, but a knock on the door caused them to shift attention to the military officer standing in the doorway.

"Mr. Elric, sir," he started. "We have arrangements made for you, your brother, and the girl you're guarding to be escorted to the train station. You're luggage has been retrieved from the inn you had been staying at, so there's no need to be concerned about that."

Ed nodded. He was somewhat irritated with the word "escort" but he would have to get over that.

"The last train to Central leaves in about half an hour, so we should leave now if you'd like to get there soon," he continued.

_Now that we know about the Philosopher's Stone, there isn't much reason to go back to Central…_

Ari spoke for the brothers. "Yes, we should go now," she said, standing up.

The blonde alchemist furrowed his eyebrows. As if knowing what he was thinking, Ari sighed.

She bent down to his ear and whispered. Shivers ran down his spine when her breath brushed against his skin. "I can't explain with this guy standing here. I'll tell you on the train."

Ed nodded and stood up beside her, followed by Al. They all walked in silence behind the officer.

•|• _Ari_ •|•

The silence in the car made me uncomfortable. I was used to an alone quiet. With three other people around I got fidgety.

_I want to get to the station already and get on the train. This has become the longest half hour of my life!_ I thought as I shifted from having my hands in my pockets to my arms being folded across my chest. The uncomfortable feeling brought with it a strange tightness in my chest.

When we finally arrived I forced the car door open and breathed in the cool night air. _That was torture,_ I thought as I smiled to myself, happy I was finally out.

The MP left us there and drove off. Once on the train, I was willing to talk again.

_Every time I talk to these guys it's because of something that they need to know or because they have questions. I wonder if that's how all of our conversations are going to go_, I thought as I sat down on a bench. Once again the guys sat in front of me.

"Why are we going back to Central?" Al asked us. I looked up at his metal head before clearing my throat. I thought about the fact that the timeline had been completely messed up by now and it made me nervous about how badly I could screw with their lives.

Giving up, I let out a breath and sat back. "Before I start, do you have a map on you?"

Ed raised an eyebrow at this question. "A map?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. "More specifically, a map of Central."

_If they don't I could always draw it. I can remember things exactly as I've seen them, so all I have to do is remember what the map looked like on the show._

"No," Ed said. "But why…"

"I want you guys to figure it out," I interrupted, getting annoyed with my situation. "I've screwed with the timeline enough and it's only going to get worse. It'll make more sense for me if you did some of these things on your own. If I can figure out what happens next, then I can stay sure that I know what I'm getting myself into."

_There were two completely different Fifth Lab scenarios, so whichever one they go through in the near future should be a clue as to what story line this is._

Ed nodded, calmly ignoring my outburst. He was different from what I'd have expected, after having watched both series countless times over again. He was a bit more level headed, which was good considering how easily I could explode.

"We'll have to wait until we get back to Central for a map," he said as he shifted where he sat.

With a light sigh, I nodded an "okay" and tried to relax. It was nerve racking to know what could possibly happen while I was here. As I looked out the window, my mind went off in a thousand directions. The fact I'd end up far behind in school if I ever made it back, how pissed Opal would be with me…

_I have no clue how I'm supposed to react to any of this. Panic again? Be happier than words could describe? _

As I stared at the scenes that zoomed by me, I hummed and tapped my fingers to 'Wine Red', a song I knew by heart. From the corner of my eye I could see that the boys were looking at me. Biting my tongue, I stopped humming while my hands continued for the entirety of the song that was stuck in my head.

"_Who shot that arrow in your throat?  
Who missed the crimson apple?  
It hung heavy on the tree above your head.  
This chaos this calamity, this garden once was perfect  
Give your immortality to me, I'll set you up against the stars…"_

A smile touched my lips as the song went on. It was one I loved and found amazingly sadistic. Not something one would expect from me, but there it was.

My eyelids grew heavy and the song stayed with me as I started to drift off, the lyrics lulling me to sleep.

|•| _Ed _|•|

As Ed thought about the fact Ari had been through way too much since she'd been assigned to them, he began to wonder if she'd be better off with someone else keeping an eye on her.

The other side of him vetoed the idea immediately. She'd trusted them with so much it wouldn't be a very good idea to let her go.

Ed smiled to himself as he watched her drift into unconsciousness.

_Things have gone from rough to chaotic in a matter of days_, he thought. The smile shifted into a scowl. _With all of these enemies Ross and Brosh aren't going to be enough._

**A/N: If he only knew… **

**So once again, I'm sorry I've been ignoring this, but writer's block is a bigger bitch than anything most normal people can think of. Luckily, now that I'm back to writing this there should be more soon. **

**Does anyone know the song that Ari was humming? It's "Wine Red" by The Hush Sound. I hear it on Pandora radio a lot, so I decided to put it in here. I suggest looking it up, it's a pretty good song.**

**On a final note, sorry for the crappy length. The next one will be longer. Now that I've got writer's block out of the way, I can get to where I want :) So see ya later, and please review **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Okay, so I've been giving it some thought and I don't see how I can get the homunculi to fit in this fanfic. I mean they can't work for my organization because the organization has no use for them… wait a sec… Aha! I think I have something! This fanfic is turning out to be pretty AU, but even so I'm going to try and make this awesomeness bacon flavored! (But, uh, if you're vegan/vegetarian just let it taste like whatever you want…)**

**I'll let you guys go on with it. See ya at the end :)**

* * *

|•| _Ed _|•|

Ed's eye twitched as he glared at who was waiting for him at the other side of the station.

_When are we going to be done with these bodyguards? _he thought with a scowl. _I can take care of myself just fine without them._

With a final huff he, Al, and Ari stepped off of the train and made their way over.

"There you are!" Ross said in a firm tone towards the group. "Do you realize how irresponsible you acted by going to Tyria without us?"

His eyebrow twitched as he proceeded to walk past the two of them. "Yeah, whatever," he muttered. Ed wasn't in the mood to deal with these two, especially when he had more important matters to attend to.

_As soon as we get that map Ari wanted we'll figure some things out and be one step closer,_ he thought.

* * *

•|• _Ari_ •|•

I'd quickly realized that this Amestris and the people were both alike and different compared to those of the series. For one Ed had a greater disrespect for authority. Even though they were just guards, whenever they were around Ed would get into this pissy mood that one could easily mistake for as him PMS-ing.

I unintentionally snorted a laugh at this thought and smiled like an idiot. The two already annoyed guards looked at me, eyebrows furrowed and expressions confused. An embarrassed pink tinted my face as I cleared my throat and tried to wipe away the smile.

They followed us back to the hotel, but didn't try to go inside the room with us. They patiently stood guard outside the door while we went in.

"Do you have a sheet of paper and a pencil?" I asked once the door was closed.

Ed raised an eyebrow at this request. "Yeah, there's something like that in the bottom drawer of the dresser over there," he answered pointing to said dresser.

I nodded and walked over. It took some work, but I managed to pry open the drawer. From the corner of my eye I caught Ed stifling laughter. I glared at him and pulled out some paper.

_Let's see if my skills as an artist survived that trip through the Gate_, I thought as I sat down on the ground beside the coffee table.

"What are you doing?" Al asked.

I grinned at him and twirled the pencil between my fingers. "Watch and learn my curious friend, for you're about to witness something few people have the ability to do."

At this point even Ed was interested and I could sense the two of them standing above my shoulder as I went at it.

_That goes there… the Fifth lab was over here…_

"One more thing," I added as I paused in the middle. I looked back at the brothers and noted Ed's confused expression. "'The truth hidden within the truth.' Think about that while I finish up."

The expression on his face stayed while I turned back. _That should give them something to ponder while I do this._

It took about 15 minutes but soon there was an almost flawless replica of a map of Central sitting on the table, and as I grinned at my work Ed's jaw had dropped.

"How did you…!?" he started. Astonishment took over him as he picked up the makeshift map. "This is incredible! How the hell were you able to do this!?"

I shrugged it off, not wanting to mention the show or manga. "I'm just awesome like that," I said with a smile.

Ed continued to look over my map. I noticed his forehead crinkle when he saw something.

_Did he figure it out that fast? I didn't even say anything about why we needed a map in the first place._

"Do you know what this is?" he asked, pointing to the large square I'd labeled as the Fifth Lab.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's a lab that the military used to use for research. It wasn't built on stable ground so they had to have it closed."

With a nod he continued to stare at the map. You could almost see the gears in his head turning as he pieced things together for himself.

"In all the stories that you've heard about us the military is involved with the antagonist in one way or another, right?" he asked as he look at from me from over the top of the paper. I nodded again.

"Yeah, that's right," I said. "I'm not going to give to many specifics right now though. This story is already different from everything that I've heard, so I'm not sure what to think about this all anymore."

He resumed looking at the map and his eyes stopped close by the spot where I'd drawn the Fifth lab.

A smile hit my face. _Come on little buddy, you've got this. Let's find out what we're going to do next… On second thought, I'll leave what happens all to you guys. _The smile stayed when I realized I'd called Ed little. _Thank Truth he can't read minds… or can he?_

I laughed lightly with my stray thoughts, resulting in me being the center of attention once again.

Ed raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak. I quickly put up a hand to stop him.

"Don't mind me," I stated. "Just some random thoughts, nothing to concern yourself with."

With a quick sigh he spread the map across the table. His gaze on it hardened and I mentally went on fangirl mode for the determined expression that got to me whenever I watched the anime.

_Stop that! Bad Ari! Very bad! If you start drooling over him now you're not going to get anywhere!_

After shoving my stray thoughts aside, I refocused on the matter at hand.

"I think I know where to go next," he said next. "There's gotta be something in that lab that could help us, and I've got a feeling that if we go in there we'll most likely find something about the Philosopher's Stone."

Al was confused. "What makes you think there'll be something there?" he asked.

"Marcoh said to find the truth within the truth. We've got one thing, the truth behind the Philosopher's Stone, so we need to dig a little deeper. If the military is involved where's the one place where they have the resources and the perfect hiding place?"

"I'm not sure I'm following where you're going with this," Al stated. I could imagine the confused look that would have been on his face had he been in his body.

Ed pointed to the rectangle beside the Fifth lab. "Right here is Central prison. When a prisoner is condemned to death, the body doesn't go back to the family right?" Al nodded in response. "If the Philosopher's Stone is made from human souls, then maybe the military is using the souls of those condemned prisoners as fuel for stones."

I swallowed down the lump that had blocked my windpipe from receiving any air. _Calm yourself kid,_ I commanded.

"Their using prisoners for ingredients?" Al summed up as a question.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it's really that organization that's in control," I said, pulling their attention on me once again. "They might be able to get military permission because of the fact they specialize in traveling between worlds."

Ed nodded. "That would make more sense. The military relying on someone else? Sounds about right to me."

The corner of my lips turned upward into a half smile while other thoughts came to mind. _Now I want to go in there as well, but depending on whom it is they might know who I am and try to kill me like Glass and Lewis did. _

I scratched at my head, ignoring the fact that my natural curls had finally returned. _This is so nerve racking! On one hand I want to learn as much as possible and pray I don't end up dead, and on the other I want stay away and just carry on as 'usual'._

"In any case we have to go and check it out," Ed stated as he folded his arms over his chest. "I feel like it'd be a good idea to try and find out what we can about what's going on here." His gold eyes met mine and I blinked in confusion over the expression he wore. "If possible we might be able to find a way to get you back to your world if that stone doesn't work." He pointed at my neck as he said this before turning towards Al.

A sinking feeling swept over me as I went into a state of mild depression. I smiled slightly at first, but looked away as he and Al made plans to get into the lab.

_I don't want to go back… If there was some way for me for me to stay, without being a nuisance for these two, then I'd happily go for it. Opal will just have to get over it… God, that's horrible of me…_

* * *

|•| _Ed _|•|

The brothers left later that night. Ari had actually fallen asleep sometime before they did so, allowing them to make sure that she okay. She'd been in a weird mood since he'd brought up her home world, and now he was regretting it.

_I still haven't figured out how to act around her yet. She's so damn sensitive to some things, and then she'll snap back and seem completely normal. _He sighed. _It's so frustrating!_

With one final glance over at the sleeping girl, he climbed out the window on a makeshift rope that he and Al had made from a bed sheet.

The moment they got to the lab there was something off about it. From where they stood they could see a guard standing alert at the front entrance.

"They sure do a lot to keep people out," he muttered. Al nodded in agreement and the two went around to the back of the building, where there weren't any guards.

What the back entrance lacked in guards it made up for in reinforcements. The door was completely boarded up, more so than the front.

"Damn," he swore under his breath. _I can't use my alchemy to open it; the light would attract attention._

"Brother," Al whisper-yelled to get Ed's attention. "I found you a way in."

Ed furrowed his eyebrows and jogged over to where his brother was standing. All he could see was an air vent, but then he understood.

"I can get through, but what about you?" he asked as he looked at his brother's metal head.

"I'll stay out here and stay on guard, while you investigate the inside of the building," Al answered.

Ed nodded, but was uneasy about the situation. "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure," Al copped back. "I wouldn't have suggested it if I wasn't."

Nodding again, Ed got up to the vent with some assistance from his brother.

_Good thing I'm small enough to get through here,_ Ed thought after he'd gone a ways through the vents. It took him few seconds to catch what he'd just thought, and soon he'd put himself into a state of irritation mixed with depression.

_I can't believe I just thought that! What the hell is wrong with me!?_

After choosing not to answer his own question, Ed continued down the vent.

"How long will it be until we have it?" he heard a voice say, putting him on alert. He looked down and realized that he was above a grate in the vent. He could see several individuals in a small room.

_Like hell this place is abandoned,_ he thought with a scowl. Being careful to not make too much noise, Ed positioned himself so that he could better see who was there.

"No thanks to _that one _we're no closer than before," a female voice said.

"Excuse me! I would have had it if the Elric brat hadn't gotten in the way."

_That voice!_ Ed craned his neck to see better and his eyes grew wide when he saw Lewis sitting among the group.

"Impossible…" the blonde whispered to himself. _The military should've… duh._

"Even if Elric wasn't in the way you could have gotten it if you weren't so damn sadistic. You had to wait until she woke up to try and take the Stone," the same female voice said.

Lewis shrugged. "What's the point of doing this job if I can't enjoy myself while doing it?"

The woman he was speaking to glared at him in a way that even scared Ed. "You're disgusting. You let our one chance at flawless travel get away because you wanted to make her life hell."

"You don't get it do you? Those screams are the only reason why I'm still here. I appreciate you guys bailing me out and everything, but if I have to go with your plans I'm out."

"You know that there's only one way out. Are you willing to go that far?"

Lewis was quiet for a few seconds. "No, I'm not."

"Then quit running your mouth and get your ass to the main lab. Now!"

The man sighed and left the room.

"I swear, this is ridiculous," the woman said to the rest of the group. "If I have to deal with that psycho's idiotic chattering one more time…"

"Please calm down boss," the person sitting next to her said.

The woman took a loud sigh before standing. "All of you, to the secondary lab. I'm going to check on security."

"Yes sir," the group said, saluting her and leaving.

Once every one was out of the room, Ed clapped his hands quietly. He touched the grate and dropped down into the room.

_If she's going to security, that means Al might end up with a fight on his hands. I have to get information and get out of here fast._

"Oh look!" a voice from behind said. "If it isn't the Fullmetal Pipsqueak! I can't tell you how long I've wanted to do this!"

Ed started to turn around but something hard hit him on the back of the head, knocking him down to the ground.

_Who the… what the… _

His vision started to blur and the last things he saw were a pair of purple eyes and a red ouroboros tattoo.

* * *

•|• _Ari_ •|•

It was like the beginning of a horror movie: the main character wakes up to find herself in her room and there's no one else in the house.

This wasn't a horror movie, however, and it wasn't a house; it was a dead silent hotel room.

It was the same quiet that I was used to, so I wasn't sure why I was reminded of a horror movie. Then I remembered that I was being guarded and who it was that was guarding me.

"All hell," I muttered under my breath. _They waited for me to pass out before they ran out. How nice of them._

Rolling my eyes, I got up and looked around. I scoffed at the sight of an open window and the bed sheet rope.

"Good grief, those two are ridiculous." I tugged on the rope and had two thoughts come to mind: I could either climb down the "rope" and find the two for myself, or I could just tell Ross and Brosh that they were gone. But then I saw the bed and thought, _I could always just stay here and sleep._

With a sigh I dropped the rope. _No. Knowing those two they've either gone to the fifth lab and are dying, or they're in fights that won't end well. Kinda the same thing either way that you look at it, but at least they aren't dying in the second version._

Yawning, I stepped over to the door and opened it. The two guards had unprofessionally fallen asleep on the job.

"Oh dear Truth, they're in trouble," I uttered to myself.

* * *

|•| _Ed _|•|

When he first woke up he thought he was still unconscious because the room he was in was pitch black. He tried to move but found that he was completely restrained against a chair. Panicking, Ed jerked around in a desperate attempt to free himself from the evil chair.

"Hello!?" he shouted. "Is there anyone there!?"

"Ah dammit," a disappointed voice said. "He woke up."

Ed glared into the darkness. The voice he'd heard sounded familiar, yet he didn't trust it. "Who's out there!?" he called out into the darkness.

A light suddenly came on, blinding him for a few moments. His eyes grew wide at the sight of the girl he was guarding.

"Ari…?" he uttered, too dumbfounded for words.

She laughed lightly. "Sup Ed," she said.

"Envy!" the voice of the woman from before called from behind him. "I thought you knew better than to go around teasing captives. Looks like I still have some work to do."

"Sorry boss," Ari said. In a matter of moments the girl shifted into a lean person with long black hair. Ed wasn't sure if it was male or female.

He simply blinked at the character before him. "Wh-who are you people?"

"We're the ones after that little girl's Philosopher's Stone," the woman said again. "After what you did to Lewis it's only fitting for you to face this punishment."

Ed swallowed hard to keep back his fear. He's never let his enemies get the better of him. "What do you mean by punishment?" he asked, even though he had a feeling he knew what it was.

"It should be obvious," the woman said. He heard footsteps as she came around and faced him. She had long blonde hair and eyes darker than black. She looked at him with a fake smile and continued. "We're going to kill you for your soul."

Ed was just about frozen with his fear, yet he still refused to let it show. "Oh yeah?" he taunted as he narrowed his eyes at the woman. "Any moment now my guards will realize Al and I are gone and come to get us. You won't even get the chance to try."

Her dark eyes narrowed at him. "Hmph. We'll see about that."

* * *

**A/N: Mwahahahahahahahaha! Voila! Am I not still evil? I wrote this over the course of two days after getting inspiration from ****Reprieve**** to start writing again. LeFay's in college, yet she still manages to find time to write. I may be working on TSSA pretty regularly (even though I missed last weeks update…), but this has gone untouched for quite some time now. So how do you like where it's going? I've got plans to change up this plot almost entirely, making this ridiculously AU. But I couldn't just go with some the Mary-Sue "OC crosses gate and goes along with everything" type deal. No. I'm not like that, no offense to the aforementioned author. **

**Ari is a major target for this organization and now Ed's kidnapped. I promise you won't have to wait a month for the update this time, especially now that I've got all this suspense laid out for you to take in. Please review and just maybe I'll find motivation to update faster.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi guys! I kept my promise ^_^ So how's life been? I just had my second semester midterms, explaining why I didn't have much time to work on this. Well, I could have been writing all this past weekend, but I was busy getting my level 17 hunter up to level 34. Yeah… I have no social life, but I'm okay with that :3**

**So here you go! I hope you enjoy**

* * *

•|• _Ari_ •|•

It took a bit of time to explain some things, but I was eventually able to convince the groggy Second Lieutenant and Sergeant that Ed and Al were in danger. I was starting to notice that the series really fudged the personalities of some of the characters. These two seemed to have stricter attitudes and got pissed whenever the brothers did something without their knowledge. Over on my world some fangirls might call it OOC. Me? I thought that it was an amazing combination of hilarious and _really_ weird.

"The fifth lab was this way, right?" Ross asked her partner.

I huffed in amazement as I ran close behind them, though part of it was the fact I was so out of breath. My leg had protested against the intense movement, but I after about ten minutes of almost constant running it had gone numb and let my lungs do the screaming.

_How do these guys do this!?_ I thought as I struggled to keep my already sad pace.

Within minutes of asking myself this, we found ourselves in front of the building. I was confused when I saw that there was no guard at the front.

_The hell…?_

"You're certain that they're in there?" Brosh asked me. If it were like the anime he'd have sweat-dropped at the sight of me.

It took me a few seconds to respond, mainly because I was relying on a wall to keep me upright while I gasped for as much air as possible. I probably looked like a dying fish, and with this thought I only ended up smiling stupidly.

"Just… a sec," I panted as my smile was replaced with a grimace. My leg had decided to resume its whining, resulting in a silent moan on my part. _Owwww! _I wanted to cry out. I didn't, however. There was a time for everything, and my moans of pain wouldn't do us any good right now.

With final sigh I looked over at them. Their faces actually looked concerned, and coming from the versions standing before me all that managed to do was send creepy shivers down my spine.

"Uh…" I trailed off, blinking every now and then.

"You should probably go to a doctor for that leg," Ross commented.

I waved her away. "Nah," I said, thought truthfully I wanted to storm into the hospital and rant at them for causing more damage that good. "Leave me be for a little while and it'll heal up eventually."

She nodded and directed her attention towards the building in front of us. "How will we know where in the building they are?"

I blinked at them, not sure how to respond to this. It wasn't like I had a map of this place.

An imaginary light bulb came on over my head. _Bingo!_

"Follow me you guys," I said as I started for the back entrance. They were somewhat reluctant, obviously not a huge fan of taking orders from a kid, but soon we were on the move again. In the distance I heard the faint sound of metal on metal. _Ahaha! I've gotcha now!_

"Alphonse!" I whisper-yelled as we got closer, not wanting to attract the attention of whatever was out there. His head turned up at us from where he sat on the ground. You could sense his surprise.

"Ari!?" he exclaimed. "And you guys too!? What are you doing here?"

I stepped over to Al and whispered my answer. Neither Ross nor Brosh knew anything about me, so I couldn't speak out loud.

"No matter what happens in either of the stories I know about you guys, Ed always manages to get into the hospital after coming here. I have a feeling he's got himself in trouble, so I brought some back-up."

"So you knew that we'd be in serious danger by coming here!?" he questioned me. "Why didn't you say something?"

My eye twitched as his words sparked a fire. "You two are the ones that snuck off when I was passed out," I growled at him. "It's not as if my unconscious self had the chance to say 'Warning: Possibility of _death_ if you come here!'"

Al fell into an uneasy silence and I finally realized how my words had affected him.

I cleared my throat before speaking again. "I… I'm sorry Al. I didn't mean to scare you like that. Don't worry. It hasn't been that long since he went in there, right?"

His metal head nodded before looking up at the sky to get an idea of the timing. "About an hour or so actually. Probably less."

I nodded before looking above his head at that open vent.

"Ed climbed in through that vent," he said, noticing where I was looking. "I stayed out here to wait for him."

Another nod on my part, but a question from Ross drew our attention to her. "Why didn't you go in through the front? The building is supposed to be abandoned, so…"

"There was a guard," I interrupted. They all looked back at me. "The guard wasn't there when we came by, but there was one when Ed and Al first got here."

Even without a flesh face, I could tell that Al was amazed by my conclusion as the other two.

"How…?" Ross trailed off.

I smirked at her. "Never doubt my detective skills," I said playfully. _I also helps that I've seen the anime enough times to be able to quote it. This, however, is no anime._

"She's right," Al said. "There was a guard so we tried to go around to the back. It's boarded up and Ed couldn't transmute it without attracting attention. We had to go with the vent. It was my idea actually."

An idea was forming in my head and my gut told me that nothing bad would happen, while my head made valid arguments over how everything could go wrong.

Naturally I went along with what my gut told me.

My heart was pounding. Not from fear, but from excitement.

_Here goes nothing,_ I thought.

I turned on my heel to face Ross and Brosh. They backed up slightly from my sudden confrontation.

"I'm going in there," I stated firmly.

Their eyes grew wide at this and even Al was taken aback with this.

"What can you do in your condition!?" Ross exclaimed, careful not to be too loud. "You're limping and if you're not careful you'll end up tearing your leg open worse than when you got shot."

My hands clenched into fists as she listed all of the cons of my going in.

"Look!" I said to cut her off. "I'm the only one small enough to get in the vent. There'll be someone on the other side of the front door for certain. They never leave it so accessible. Besides, I know a couple ways to take care of a few scientists."

It was amusing how I could fight hand-to-hand. Opal was a black belt in karate, one of the reasons why I hated getting into fights with her, and she had given me some tips. Basically my fighting style involved letting you beat me up until you let your guard down. Then I'd punch my attacker square in the soft spot just under the nose that's packed with sensitive nerves. I'd never had to beat anyone up, but once Opal snuck up on me and I punched her. I nearly broke her nose and she shunned me for a couple weeks until she could talk normally again.

The expression on their faces was almost scared, as if they were worried about what I was talking about. I held back the urge to laugh as I walked… okay, hobbled over to the vent. The fact that I'd run almost two miles to get here was already enough to tire me out to the point of exhaustion, but something changed as I heaved myself up into the vent.

"If you're not back out in twenty minutes, we're going in," Ross warned.

"Kay!" I called back.

The vent was almost pitch black, but the light from behind me allowed my eyes to adjust.

It wasn't too long before I noticed a light in front of me. There was a hole in the vent and around the edges were clear transmutation marks.

_Looks like I'm headed in the right direction,_ I thought. I hopped down and looked around. It was a plain white room with fold-out chairs placed randomly.

Frowning, I opened the door. Upon finding a quiet empty hallway I started to get nervous. _The hall's got light, so where is everyone?_

I turned to my right in hopes of finding something that would lead me to where Ed had ended up, but from what I could see it was just an eerie, empty laboratory.

_So… where the hell is everyone? _I thought nervously.

"Hurry up already Davis!" I heard a voice call, giving me an answer to my question.

I froze, my heart pounding in my chest. _Calm down, calm down, calm down…_ I ordered myself as the voices kept talking.

"Give me a second!" another shouted. It seemed more distant, allowing myself to calm slightly.

"Well make it quick! The boss needs help in the basement. Her little pet Envy caught that Elric brat sneaking around here."

"Don't tell me she's going to kill him!" The voice was closer now, but my presence had still managed to go unnoticed. "If she goes after a member of the military the Fuhrer will have all of our heads on a stake!"

_Bradley's involved? Oh duh, of course he is._

"She might not kill him, you never know."

There was a sigh. "With a heartless bitch like her in charge, you never know which one of us will end up as one of her experiments."

"Just be grateful you haven't jinxed us yet. Now move it!"

_It was the basement, right!? _I turned around and started to run, hoping for my life that there was a staircase. Newfound adrenaline fueling me, I ran at top speed.

My good karma was finally catching up to me, because sure enough I found a stairwell at the end of the hallway.

I descended the multiple flights of stairs before coming face to face with a large metal door. The only way to get through was with a key.

My hands reached deep into my sweater pockets and I pulled out an old hair pin. A sound that was halfway between a growl and a sigh escaped from my lips when my lock picking strategy failed.

_Shit, it didn't work. _I put the pin back before an imaginary light bulb shined over my head.

I stared at my hands before looking at the door. _It's just steel, right? _

Smiling at this fangirl's dream come true, I clapped my hands. _If there isn't a door, make one. Or in this case, break the little bastard down._

* * *

|•| _Ed _|•|

The woman ordered her assistants to place Ed in the center of the circle. He glared at the white-coats as they pulled his chair across the room.

On the floor was a massive transmutation circle. It was more elaborate than anything he'd ever seen and could put human transmutation circles to shame.

_If it weren't for the fact they're about to kill me, I'd probably be trying to decode this thing,_ he thought as he was positioned in the middle.

Ed heard footsteps as the woman came around to face him. "So where are your guard dogs?" she mocked as a smirk graced her face. "Seems you were wrong about them coming for you."

He narrowed his eyes at her. _Dammit! They should have noticed something was up! Where are…?_

An explosion from the opposite side of the room pulled his attention away from his thoughts.

"What the hell!?" he thought aloud as he tried to see through the red sparks that were crackling.

Ed's jaw nearly fell open when he saw the girl with auburn hair and hazel eyes in the middle of the wreckage. There was a faint light shining from behind the neck of her shirt.

Ari grinned at him. "I didn't think that would work," she said.

He blinked at her in amazement. _I didn't expect Ari to be here._

The woman narrowed her eyes at the girl. "Envy," she started. "Get her. She has what we want."

Envy stepped out into the opening and Ed noticed Ari's eyes grow wide.

"Evil palm tree!" she screamed, pointing at him.

The room went silent for a moment as everyone stared at her, not getting what she meant.

Eyes narrowed in a glare, Envy sneered at Ari. It was obvious he wasn't a fan of this nickname. Ed was stifling laughter while the woman was getting frustrated.

Her hands clenched into fists. "What the hell are you waiting for!?" she yelled. "Get her already!"

Ari swallowed and clapped her hands as Envy charged for her. She hit the ground and a massive spike drilled through him. Ed's eyes grew wide as red electricity sparked around and healed whatever injuries Ari had inflicted upon the enemy.

_What the hell was that!? Ari turned him into a kabob! How is he alive!?_

"Stop playing games and get her, you horrid homunculus!" the woman screamed. "Don't think I'll hesitate to destroy what I've created!"

For a brief moment Ed thought he saw fear on Envy's face as this was said. It went away and came back determined.

"Stupid girl," he growled, eyes still narrowed. He started running and chased Ari around the room.

_What the hell is she doing here? _Ed thought as he watched Ari run around the room in attempt to get away from the homunculus. _And what happened to the others?_

She clapped her hands again and hit the ground. This time multiple spikes shot up at various points in the room. There were a handful of other scientists in the room who fled as soon as Envy was skewered again.

"You stupid creation!" the woman screamed. "What compelled me to help you so long ago!? Just get her already!"

Envy stopped dead in his tracks while Ari continued to run to the other side of the room. He and the woman met in the middle while she tried to catch her breath.

The two proceeded to argue, giving Ari enough time to rush to Ed's side.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as she got on her knees besides him.

She dug into her pocket and pulled out a hair pin. "I came to save you're sorry ass," she copped as she stuck the pin into the lock holding one of his wrists down. "I was the only one small enough to get in here through that vent. The others should be behind me. They said that if I wasn't out in twenty minutes they were coming in. It's been about fifteen so far."

Ari frowned as she dug the pin into the cuff on the opposite wrist. With a final click Ed was free. He rubbed the now raw skin on his left wrist and stared at the pin in her hand.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"Hm?" Ari started before realizing what he meant. "Oh! It's lock-picking. I've seen it done in spy movies and taught myself how to do it. It only works if you're a girl, 'cause guys don't usually wear bobby-pins."

Ed snorted a laugh. "Noted. Now let's…"

"Don't think I'm going to let you leave so easily," the woman said. "We haven't done any experiments in a while."

Ed glared at her, but his eyebrows furrowed as Ari stepped forward and stuck an arm out to block him.

His expression grew curious when he saw the look on her face; a combination of scared, sad, and determined.

"How about we make a deal?" she suggested. "If you guys let Ed go, then I'll stay here and go along with your plans."

The woman frowned at this and raised an eyebrow. "What have we here?" she said. "The scared little mouse is becoming the lion, hm? It's an intriguing offer."

"Ari, what are you doing!?" Ed demanded. "You can't be serious. You didn't come here to be a sacrifice!"

He noticed the skin under her eyes turn red as she tried to hold back tears. "This is your story!" she cried out, her voice starting to shake at the end. "Y-you don't get it! I'm just an extra that got mixed into all this by chance! It's because of this stupid necklace and stone that I'm here. It could've happened any other way, but no. I'm just here to see you guys through until your story is over. If she tries to take my stone maybe it'll activate. I'll be back in my bedroom and my life will go back to normal. I have to do something…"

"No you don't," the boss said from the other end of the room.

Ari narrowed her eyes, the previous sadness gone. "What are you talking about?"

"You were supposed to come here. It's all part of the plan."

* * *

•|• _Ari_ •|•

I stared at her, eyes wide and hands in fists. _What the hell?_

"What plan?" I demanded. My body was shaking from the overload of adrenaline and I had to swallow the lump of fear that was lodged in my throat.

The blonde lady looked at with her black eyes that caused me to feel uncomfortable. "The Ouroboros Society has been keeping an eye on you for some time now. Ever since you were born there have been strange occurrences taking place in the Gate. We've been trying to find out what happened and what we've concluded is that you're… special to say the least."

My brows furrowed. "Special?"

"Yes," she said, a dark smile stretching across her face. "We've concluded that you're the one. You have the ability to travel through the Gate with little sacrifice to yourself."

"Explain," I demanded. I knew that she was only telling us this because she didn't plan on letting either of us live, so I decided to get as much out of her as I could.

"You're the Chosen One; the one human that Truth wants to live. For whatever reason, he won't take a physical toll from you."

The world seemed to freeze with this statement and my mind tried to process all of this.

"Do you now see why we have to have you? Someone gave you that stone with the intention for you to crossover, and if we can take it and your soul then we should be unstoppable! We'll have enough power to do whatever we want!"

"Who the hell needs that kind of power!?" Ed shouted from behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw the fire in his gold eyes. "Are you people so damn arrogant that you'll take countless innocent lives to get what you want!?"

"Power is not the same as arrogance!" she shouted back. "My fellow Order members and I have been given the opportunity of a lifetime! Who knows when Truth will pick a favorite again!? We must act now!" Her eyes narrowed but the sinister expression remained the same. "Now then. Seeing as you offered yourself up as a sacrifice we should continue with this."

I hadn't realized that we were standing on the massive array. The intricate circle started glowing red from under us. My neck burned as my Stone started to activate and glow.

The sound of gunshots sounded from before me and the floor stopped glowing. My hand lowered the collar of my shirt and felt cool against my warm skin. I closed my eyes and frowned as I started to feel dizzy.

"Stay where you are!" the second Lieutenant's voice called from behind me. The sound of footsteps would have been comforting, but at that moment the sound caused my ears to ring.

_The hell…?_

"Are you guys okay?" Brosh asked Ed and me while Ross took care of our enemy.

"Yeah," Ed answered as I nodded. I took notice of the fact that he didn't sound as hostile as before towards the two guards.

"Brother!" I heard Alphonse scream as he entered the room. I turned around to see Ed wrapped up in a massive bear hug. "I'm so happy you're okay!"

"Can't… breath!" Ed choked out as his face turned red from lack of oxygen. Al let him go and I laughed lightly.

It might not have been the best thing for me to have done. With the adrenaline rush finally fading I was regaining some of my senses. I hadn't noticed how badly my leg hurt at the time, but when I looked down I noticed that my initial wound had worsened from all the movement I'd done recently. My pant leg was almost completely soaked in blood and the sight of it made my chest clench.

_Oh god!_ I thought. My vision started to blur and my body began to sway.

A shooting pain shot up through my leg and up through the rest of my body before I fell to the ground in a heap.

"Ari!" I heard a voice say. My vision started fading to black and I was gone within seconds.

* * *

|•| _Ed _|•|

Ed watched in horror as Ari collapsed. His eyes met hers for a brief moment and what he saw scared him. There was no light in her gaze and he frantically rushed over to her.

There was a pained expression on her pale face. Her deep, heavy breaths let him know that she was alive, but he had no clue what had happened.

"That moron," Ross huffed after she'd taken care of the boss. Ed looked up and saw the annoyed expression that was on her face. "She should have gone to see a doctor and let us take care of all this."

Ed looked back down at the girl he was supposed to be guarding. As he looked her over his eyes froze on her leg. There was a pool of blood under it and her pants were soaked with the sticky red liquid.

"Her bullet would from before…" he muttered under his breath. _I knew it was bad, but I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen. _

He closed his eyes briefly and sighed. "We need to get her out of here," he said firmly. "She's lost too much blood and at the rate it's going she could bleed out if we stay here. We need to hurry."

The Second Lieutenant and the Sergeant nodded and started to head for the door. "We'll contact the military and tell them what's going down later."

Ed stared at Ari for a moment before lifting her by her torso and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He held onto her thighs, being careful to not cause any more damage, and followed the guards and his brother out into the hall.

In a matter of moments the building started to shake.

"Damn!" Ross shouted as they ran.

"What is it now!?" Ed called out as he picked up his pace, dodging the rubble that was falling from above.

"That woman got away while we were fixated on Ari!" she responded.

_Dammit! _Ed thought as they made their way out the front of the building. _How the hell did she get away!?_

Ari's body shuddered, pulling him back to the matter at hand and reminding him that he had more important things to worry about.

_All hell!_ he thought as he ran down the street. _Screw the enemy! Ari's more important! _

He didn't look back for even an instant as the building was reduced to nothing.

* * *

**A/N: How'd you like it? Just so you know I'm trying to get the characters to sound somewhat OOC to emphasize the fact that Ari landed in a different world than what she knows. I'm not going to completely twist them though, so don't worry about anything… **_**weird**_** happening. **

**Well please review *:-{) Stay soft my fluffy friends! The next chapter will come once I transfer it into Word :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hi guys! Full Blown Nightmare has been occupying so much of my mind for the past couple months it's ridiculous. I can't even play my game without wanting to type, and I've even started bringing a notebook with me everywhere so I can write down ideas for this. **

**I haven't updated this in a while, mainly because I was in DC for most of my spring break. I'm sooo pissed because it was fricking cold, so the cherry trees weren't in bloom -_- THAT was annoying. But on the bright side I've got a hoodie from the International Spy Museum. It was awesome. **

**(sighs) Sorry… I sound like a tourist trap website, don't I? Oh well, let's get on with it!**

**Disclaimer: I like to play with it, but it's not mine. Bonus points for making the disclaimer sound perverted ;3**

* * *

•|• _Ari_ •|•

_Cold… so… cold_

"Ari!"

_My name. Someone's calling for me._

"Don't die…"

_Die? Am I dying? It doesn't feel like I'm dying. It's cold and dark, but it doesn't hurt._

"Ari?"

"_Ed…"I think I say. That's confusing. Can I even talk like this?_

"It's okay. I'm here for you…"

_I know it's him. It has to be him! I'd know that voice anywhere._

_I'm here, he said. He's with me. That's good._

_Cold… No. I feel… numb? Is that the right word for it? Whatever the word is, it doesn't feel right. _

_It's dark. I can't see anything. What's going on? What happened? Ed? Al? Is anyone there? _

_What's happening!?_

•|•|•|•|•

When my eyes opened all I could see was a blurry white blob. My brows furrowed as I tried to blink the sleep from my eyes. As my vision cleared, so did my hearing. In the background was the soft hum of an air conditioner; a sound that put me at ease. But there was something else that I couldn't place.

The second sound continued to confuse me as I pushed myself up. Strangely enough my leg only tingled slightly as I sat up. As memories of before came back to me, I was confused as to why I wasn't in anymore pain than this.

_Knock on wood_.

I glanced around and caught sight of various objects that allowed me to understand the setting around me. I was wearing hospital clothes and there was an IV line stuck in my right hand. I was lying down on a soft pillow that felt soft and squishy. But the biggest surprise was at the foot of my bed.

There was my blonde haired fangirl crush, passed out. Ed was sitting in a chair near the end of the bed, but his top half was flopped over. His head rested on his folded arms, and even though he looked peaceful there were visible marks of stress on his face.

_What happened? He looks like he hasn't slept until now. Not well at least,_ I thought. As I continued examining him, I noticed a worn out book sitting on the other side of him. _How long has he been here?_

Sighing, I leaned back into the pillow and let my eyes close. _I'm such an idiot,_ I thought. _If I hadn't gone and followed after them I'd be in better condition._

I frowned and put my hands on my face. _Bad Ari! If you hadn't gone in there, Ed… h-he might not… he…_

A knot formed in my chest and I shuddered, not wanting to think about what could've happened if I'd shown up even moments later. _Calm down._

Movement at my feet put me on alert. I moved my hands away from my face and looked over at where Ed was.

He was in the process of sitting up. His mouth opened up as he yawned quietly, as if he didn't want to wake me up, before he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His head turned to look at me and his eyes grew wide as they met mine. We both froze, not entirely expecting each other, and continued staring.

_This is kinda awkward,_ I thought. _He's been caught red-handed for sleeping in here, but what the hell am I supposed to do?_

Ed was the first to break. He cleared his throat and sat back in his chair, his face tinted pink. "You're, uh, finally awake?" he said, unintentionally making it sound like a question.

I blinked before adjusting my position on the hospital bed. "Yeah, I've been conscious for a couple minutes now. How long was I out, anyway?"

"Three days," he answered, taking me by surprise. "You passed out back in the Fifth Lab because you went into shock from the pain. The blood loss didn't help at all. You did more damage to your leg those last couple days than when you got shot."

I touched the sheets on my left leg could feel the thick mass of bandages that were wrapped tightly around my thigh. I couldn't feel anything.

"You briefly woke up after they fixed your leg," he said, pulling my attention back to him. There was a look on his face that troubled me; a combination of sadness and nervousness. "It was… you actually scared me. I think you had a panic attack in your sleep. Your heart beat got really fast and you weren't breathing. I thought you were dying. They gave you some medicine and you ended up sleeping for longer than they expected. Al and I got anxious when you didn't wake up."

I shifted where I sat again and brought my hands in front of me. "That's never happened before," I said softly.

I noticed Ed keeping a close eye on me and I furrowed my brows. "So why are you here? Kinda creepy to watch a girl while she's sleeping," I said, teasing him towards the end.

His face pinked slightly again. "I… Al and I have been coming by every day to check on you. Since I'm supposed to be guarding you, I stayed."

"So my guard fell asleep on the job," I concluded.

Ed sighed in irritation. "Pretty much," he admitted.

I laughed at him and he shot me a glare before smiling slightly, a sight that only caused me to smile more.

"Where did Al go?" I asked once my laughs died down.

He shrugged. "Somewhere," he answered. I raised an eyebrow at this and he kept going. "I don't know where he is. He told me he was going to go out to do something."

"Maybe he found a cat," I offered as an answer. I kept smiling as Ed shook his head.

"The last thing we need is a pet," he grumbled. I laughed again.

A knock on the door pulled both of our attentions towards the other side of the room.

Ross came in, irritation visible on her face. I swallowed a lump that had formed in my throat from seeing her.

_If I came face-to-face with Hawkeye and her pistols that still wouldn't be as scary as the look this Ross is giving us. Her character is so different from the Ross in the series!_

"We only let you stay for so long because you promised to tell us when she woke up. She's awake now, so the two of you can flirt later," Ross said, causing both me and Ed to turn red. I made up my mind then and there that I didn't like this version of Ross.

Ed opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.

"There'll be a doctor coming in to do some tests on her and _no one_ will be allowed in her room until he's done. Now come on," she ordered. Glaring at her as he did so, Ed stood up and she pulled him out. "It's as if three days straight wasn't enough for you."

She sighed and I furrowed my eyebrows. I took the opportunity to question her about her last statement.

"Second Lieutenant," I started to get Ross's attention. "What did you mean by that?"

She frowned before understanding what I meant. "Oh. He hasn't left your side since he carried you here. Every time I walk in here he says that he's doing his job as your guard. If you ask me he's acting like an overprotective puppy."

I blinked at her while my mind processed this.

_It's weird that he's taking this guard thing seriously_, I thought to myself after Ross had left. _I thought I was just a tag-along. What kinda effect has this whole thing had on him?_

"Miss Lyre," I heard a voice at the door say. I looked over and saw a man in a white coat closing the door behind him.

"Yes sir?" I said as I sat up.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he sat in the chair Ed had previously been in. I noticed the book was still at the foot of the bed and sighed.

"Numb."

* * *

|•| _Ed _|•|

Al walked by to find Ed pacing around the hallway, obviously anxious about Ari. Ed ignored his younger brother as his mind traveled to various thoughts.

_This all my fault,_ he thought as he turned on his heel. _If I hadn't gone in there she wouldn't be here!_

"Dammit," he growled. His automail hand made a fist as he faced the wall. Using his frustration as fuel, he slammed his fist into the concrete wall. He glared at his fist before sighing. Ed let his hands drop and he turned to slide down the wall.

_Not like there's any point to that,_ he thought.

"Did you get kicked out?" Ed heard Al ask.

He looked up at his little brother and huffed. "Yeah," he answered. "Ari woke up and the doctor had to do some tests on her. If anything happens…"

"You're taking this a bit too far," Al said after Ed trailed off. "You haven't left the hospital for more than a few hours a day and now you're sleeping in her room."

Ed stared blankly ahead at a wall, trying to tune out what Al was saying. After listening to couple more of Al's critical remarks, his face shifted into a scowl.

"Shut up," he growled, taking Al by surprise. "It's my fault that Ari's here. You don't get it. I'm supposed to be taking care of her, and now she's in a hospital. I failed…"

His voice softened towards the end as he rested his forehead on his knees and wrapped his arms around his legs. _Why can't I protect anyone!? First Al, then Nina, now Ari… _

"Ari doesn't blame you for what happened," Al said calmly. Ed glanced at his little brother and frowned. He opened his mouth to question this, but Al cut him off. "Ari is the type that tries to put all the blame on herself, like you." The blonde was taken aback with this, but didn't say anything. "She's too thick headed to even think that you have anything to do with her injuries."

Ed remained quiet as he let his younger brother's words sink in. Memories of three days ago ran through his head.

|•|

The first day that he fell asleep at the end of her bed, he woke up to see that her face had turned pale and she couldn't breathe. He ran out in the hall calling for someone to come and help. When he got back to the room, she had gone completely still.

"Ari!" he exclaimed as he rushed to the bed. Her face had regained some of its color, but now her breathing was stressed and heavy.

He saw her right hand sitting on top of the sheets and hesitantly took it in his left. Her skin was hot, but as he kept his grip on her he noticed that her breaths weren't as labored.

"Don't die on me," he mumbled nervously as he held her hand. _I've failed before. I can't fail again._

A soft sound came from her and he frowned. "Ari?" he said.

Her lips parted slightly as she spoke. "Ed…"

A wave of relief swept over him as he squeezed her hand gently. "It's okay," he said, trying to reassure the both of them. "I… I'm here for you."

She seemed to nod her head, but suddenly a pained expression appeared on her once again pale face.

A doctor rushed in and demanded that Ed leave the room. He did as told and exited. He stared at the door as it closed and stepped back to the other side of the hall.

_She'll be okay, right?_

* * *

•|• _Ari_ •|•

After the doctor left, I could actually feel my leg. He'd taken the IV out of my hand and now my thigh hurt like hell, and as I stared at the door I longed for the anesthetics to return.

_I know that I shouldn't want to be sleeping right now, but I wanna feel numb again!_

I groaned in irritation and sandwiched my head between the sides of the pillow it was resting on. "This sucks," I mumbled.

There was a knock on my door that caused me to lower the pillow from my head.

"Yeah?" I called.

The knob turned and Ed walked in.

I blinked at him before pushing myself up into a sitting position. "You left your book at the bottom of the bed," I told him.

Nodding, he closed the door behind him but didn't sit down like before.

My mouth turned down into a frown. Something had to be up. Even though I knew that this Ed was different than the one I'd, ahem "fallen for", I knew that this Ed wouldn't normally turn mute.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him. When there was no answer, I decided to pull out the big guns. "Ross told me that you'd been staying here for the last few days."

This caught his attention, and with an annoyed sigh he sat down on the chair. He was quiet for a couple more moments before talking. "I'm sorry."

I raised an eyebrow at this. "Huh? Sorry for what?"

"If I hadn't yelled at you back in Tyria then you wouldn't have run away and gotten kidnapped by Lewis," he started. "And if it wasn't for me going into the Fifth lab then you wouldn't have had to go in after me and you wouldn't have gotten attacked…"

He was cut off by me holding a finger to his lips and glaring at him. "Stop," I demanded. "I know where you're going with this, and you need to stop." I sat back before continuing. "I get that you feel guilty, but think about this. I was acting like a little kid when I ran off and you're the one that saved me. As for the Fifth lab? You were supposed to go in there! If you hadn't gone in then we wouldn't have learn about that Ouroboros Society. That gives us another place to start looking. Who cares if my leg is busted up!? It's my own damn fault as far as I'm concerned."

"I…"

"No!" I said, cutting him off again. His eyes narrowed at me and I sighed. "As long as there are apologies, I'm going to say I'm sorry for getting forced on you and that I'm sorry I was being pretty vague a few days ago. I should've explained more, but I can't with how things are going."

Ed frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked.

I was relieved that we'd gotten past that and answered in a calmer tone. "I've never heard of this Ouroboros Society before, and the evil palm tree isn't usually the only homunculus there at the lab when you go."

"Palm tree…?" Ed said questionably.

Smiling to myself, I said, "It's a nickname that Envy's been given on my side of the Gate. There are seven homunculi; Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Pride, Greed, and Sloth. Their appearances and identities vary, though Envy is completely different on the appearances part."

He was still confused. "Explain what you mean by that."

_Don't tell him too much Ari,_ I told myself.

"The homunculi have various powers, and when it comes to Envy he can take on the appearance of pretty much anyone."

Ed nodded. "That makes sense." I raised an eyebrow to show that I was confused. "Before you broke down the door I thought that you were in the room with me because he looked like you."

It made my skin crawl to think about the androgynous leech and I shuddered, causing Ed to smile at my reaction. I smiled in return before speaking again. "So what do you think we should do next?" I asked him.

He leaned back in the chair and his expression turned nervous. I raised an eyebrow again. "While I was outside I thought that we should go to Dublith to see my old alchemy teacher…"

"You mean the Dragon Lady?" I asked as I reeled back. Ed's forehead crinkled at my reaction.

"Uh, yeah."

I let my head hang. "I should've seen this coming. First the Fifth lab, then Winry has to come and fix your arm, then the trip to Dublith. I really am an idiot."

"Winry?" Ed said in confusion. "What does she have to do with anything?"

I snorted a laugh to myself before meeting his confused gaze. "There should be a couple screws missing in your shoulder, and after fighting in the lab your arm'll pretty much stop working."

He reached up with his left hand and felt the shoulder of his automail. His face went pale before he let out an irritated sigh. "Damn. I can't drop everything and go to Resembull now," he growled.

I smiled at him. "Just call her up and tell her to come down here. If you can't I'll figure out something that I could tell her just as easily."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Ed remarked. "You can't get to the phones, they're in the hall."

An evil smile came up on my face, causing a look of discomfort to show up on his. "Wanna bet? Just fork over a wheelchair and I'll get over there easily."

"You know what?" he said as he stood up. "Fine, let's go."

I was taken aback when he said this. "Wha…?"

"I'm going to get a chair and you're going to talk to Winry."

My eyes grew wide. "No no no no no!" I protested. "I was just joking! I-I've never even met her before…"

"Too late now," Ed said as he opened the door and left.

I stared at the door, mouth hanging open and eyes wide. I pulled myself together and screamed, "Edward! You little bastard! Get back here!"

In the distance I heard him rant about not being short, causing me to explode into laughter.

Ed was glaring at me with a joking evil in his gaze as he pulled in with a wheelchair.

"You're an asshole," I complained as I flopped back on the pillow.

"You said you'd talk to her," he said.

My eye twitching at this, I pulled the pillow out from under my head and aimed it for his head. Of course I missed him.

_Dammit! _I thought as Ed picked it back up off of the floor. I grabbed the only other pillow I had and held it up as a shield.

I let out a high pitched shriek as he hit me with the pillow. He started laughing, but was cut off as I threw both of them at him. I laughed at him while he glared at me.

We went back and forth with this until I heard the grinding sound of metal on metal.

_Uh oh,_ I thought. _Here it comes._

"Um, Ed," I started. It was too late. With a final crack, the pillow had been launched square at my face and his right arm was flopping down at his side.

All I saw was something white and squishy as I fell backwards on the bed.

"Dammit!" I heard from Ed's side of the room. I pulled the pillow off of my head and met the gaze of a very pissed off Ed.

My lips turned up in a smile as I tried to stifle laughter.

"Okay," he started. "Now you're calling Winry."

I grinned as I sat up and shifted over to the wheelchair that was waiting for me.

"Heh heh," I said as I rolled down the hall with Ed. "That was the most epic pillow fight ever."

* * *

**A/N: I loved writing that pillow fight scene. The chapter was sorta slow, and then BAM! I went all out and brought in Ed's playful side. **

**So this fluff is pretty fun to write. Now I know why people write it ^_^ **

**To wrap up this A/N, I just want to say thanks to you guys for reading this far, following, favoriting, and most importantly for reviewing. I recently wrote a one-shot (it's titled Remembering The Past) to celebrate my first year on fanfiction, and I'd like to thank you guys here in this author's note.  
So thanks :) In conclusion, please review this and stay soft. Love ya!**


	11. I'm sorry

**Hi guys. I know that this chapter is breaking the rule that it can't be just an author's note, but this has to come out.**

**I am going on hiatus until maybe the first couple weeks of June. I… I really am sorry about this, but I just can't handle the stress of everything! I'm close to failing two of my classes, I'm dealing with bullies coming at me from almost every angle, there are family issues with my dad, there are issues between me and my close friends that I just… I can't handle anymore! And fanfiction is just adding onto all of this stress! The reviews are awesome and you give me my inspiration with every view I see, but i-it's just too much to handle all at a time.**

**I'm **_**this**_** close to having a nervous breakdown and I am close to tears while writing this, because I never-in-a-million-years thought I would have to go this far. I'm a writer. This is what I do! To have to push it to the side like this… it really hurts both mentally and even physically to an extent. I get carpal tunnel in my hands because I write so much, but I love doing this so I suck it up and let my fingers get tingly. I love to type until my hands go _numb_, but I can't handle the stress of regular updates anymore. My brain is fried, and tired, and I am honest-to-Truth about to break down into freaking tears because I don't want to do this. But I have to. That's how it has to be.**

**Please know that this is all personal. No one is making me do this; it's a decision that I've had to come to. I'm good at knowing when things go too far and that time probably came with TSSA's last chapter. **

**To tie up the knot, please note that I really do love you guys. You're my inspiration, and for a year fanfiction has been the only thing I've had to keep my sanity intact. I would've snapped ages ago without it and all of you out there giving me this lasting support. **

**I love you guys. You're amazing. And I need a break. **

**Until we all meet again, see ya later.**

_**Hopeless**_


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hello my wonderful friends! Now that my hiatus is over with I've typed up a veeeery long chapter that I could've made into two... You know what? It's been a couple months, I don't care! Rules are meant to be broken! (Except the whole no shirt, no shoes, no service. I wouldn't recomend breaking that rule)**

**So I recently celebrated my 15th year of life! June 19th boys and girls. Yup, my crush on Ed is now perfectly apporpriate. And I got an awesome tee-shirt, a pair of dragon earrings, and unicorn slippers! I can give y'all the website for that stuff if you want it. **

**Here's to my awesome followers and my new readers that have gotten this far. Have fun and I'll see you at the end!**

* * *

|•| _Ed_ |•|

As Ed rolled Ari down the hall, Ari hummed the tune from before. His brows furrowed in confusion at this. It was unfamiliar, but her nice singing voice cancelled out the unfamiliarity. As he listened to her soft hums, it started to bring a smile to his face. Ari seemed happy. Her cheerful side had rarely been seen. He couldn't recall a time when she was truly happy, save the pillow fight and her present humming self.

The humming ceased, causing Ed to frown.

"Ari?" Ed asked. There was no response. Frowning still, he stopped pushing the chair to wave his only working hand in front of her face.

"Hm?" she muttered. "Uh, yeah?"

"You stopped humming," he said before continuing to push her to the phones.

"Oh, sorry," she appologized. "Was I bothering you?"

Ed smirked at her reaction. "No, the opposite actually."

She didn't make another noise until the phones were in sight.

"So how will this work?" she asked. "Winry doesn't know who I am and it'll be weird talking to a stranger."

He thought about this for a second as he picked up a phone and turned the wheel of the rotary dial. "You're why I can't go out to Resembull, so if she starts yelling at me I'll give you the phone."

Ari snorted a laugh and shook her head. "So I'm the fall guy. Great."

Ed wasn't sure what she meant, but ignored her.

"_Rockbell Automail,_" came Winry's pleasent voice.

He swallowed his fear for the short-tempered blonde girl. "Uh, hi Winry. It's me, Ed."

"_Ed? Well this is a surprise, you never ca... Wait. Did you break your automail again!?" _she demanded.

His eye twitched when she said this. Ignoring that he said he'd hand the phone over, he proceded to yell at Winry. "Hey! It's not my fault _you _forgot to put a screw in my shoulder when I went up there last!"

There was a choking sound on the other line. "_How did you...!?" _She sighed. "_Yeah, whatever. Go ahead and yell at me when you get up here. When should we expect you?_"

"Well I'm in the hospital in Central right now, and I need you to come down here..." he started.

"_What!?_" she shrieked, cutting him off. Ed pulled the phone away from his ear while Ari winced from the high pitched sound. "_How much trouble are you getting into!? I told you to be careful!"_

"Will you shut up!?" Ed yelled into the phone. "I'm not the one in the hospital! The girl I'm guarding got injured, and I can't drop everything and go up for a week!"

"Hi Winry!" Ari said loudly, obviously attempting to prove Ed's point. He looked at her from the side with an eyebrow raised. Her smile was lopsided, with one corner of her mouth pulled higher then the other side. Ed smiled at her.

"_Hm..._" Winry mumbled. "_So who is she and what happened to her?"_

Ed sighed. "Her name is Ari and she was shot in the leg. The hospital discharged her too early the first time, so now the damage done now is worse then before."

"_How is she at the phones? You just said she was shot in the leg._"

"She's in a wheel-chair. She said she'd explain everything, but then I ended up doing that."

"_So is she cute?_" Winry teased, obviously trying to get a rise out of him. He could pratically see her smirk.

"Shut up!" he yelled, his face on the verge of being pink. He'd never really thought about it until Winry said something.

The nosey mechanic laughed. "_I'll take that as a yes._"

Ed cleared his throat, at the same time trying to rid himself of the newfound blush. "So can you come or what?"

_"Yeah, I'll get packing and be there some time tomorrow. But if you weren't in a fight, how did you bust your arm? Even with the screw missing it should have held up for longer._"

He sighed once again. "It's a long story."

"_Okay then. Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Try not to break anything else before I get there._"

Ed let out a growl that had been stuck in the back of his throat. "How could I break anything in a hospital?"

"_Knowing you and Al you'll find a way." _

The growl came back and he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Good bye Winry," he said.

"_Hey wait, I...!_"

Ed practically slammed the phone down on the reciever, cutting off what ever she would've said next.

"Well that was interesting," Ari commented.

"Crazy gearhead," he mumbled, shaking his head. Ari laughed lightly at his reaction. He met her gaze and smiled. Turning back to her, he spun the chair around and started back for her room.

"So I was pretty much useless," Ari said. Even though he couldn't see her, he knew she was smiling. "In any case it was nice to get out of that room. I'm tired of waking up knowing that I'm in a hospital."

"You're still going to be suck for a few more days, so don't get your hopes up," he said with a smirk.

Ari's head slumped forward. She mumbled something under her breath before sighing. After a few moments she started humming again.

"What are you humming?" he asked seconds later.

"A song," she said vaguely. He could hear embarresment in her voice.

"Oh, no? I had no clue," he said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes as he turned the chair into her room.

Ari placed her hands on the wheels and forced them forward, causing Ed to lose his hold on the chair. His brows furrowed as she rolled to the bed and proceeded to try and hoist herself up.

Her trys didn't amount to much in way of progress.

Ed stood in the door way while he watched her. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he shook his head and said, "You're hopeless."

She stopped and sat still in the chair while she looked at him. "What?"

Her eyes went wide as he stepped over. In a matter of moments he'd used his good arm to grab her waist and pull her up to the bed. She stared at him with her mouth half open in astonishment while he moved the wheel-chair to the opposite side of the room.

He sat at the foot of the bed and didn't say anything as his face warmed up.

* * *

•|• _Ari_ •|•

I could feel my cheeks burning with the red blush I was certain I was wearing.

"W-w-what did you do that for!?" I exclaimed, not sure how to react.

_I'm so lost right now. Was that normal or really OOC? Yeah he was just trying to help, but he was too close for comfort!_

"You were being stubborn," he said easily. He didn't meet my gaze, and I finally noticed the pint tint on his face.

I laughed despite the situation. His tone didn't match what was clearly written on his face.

"What?" he asked.

A sly smile stretched across my face. "You're so cute," I said. Laughter overtook me and I fell backwards on the bed. Not even realizing I'd closed them, I opened my eyes and saw Ed with his brows furrowed and the color of his face nearing red.

He opened his mouth to say something, but froze. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He said something under his breath that I couldn't hear.

I snickered before I stated laughing loudly again. "Hahaha! Dude, you're red as a beet!"

The expression on his face was surprised. He opened his mouth before closing it again. "You're evil," he said as the color of his face drained back to a normal enough pink-pale.

"Heheh. Only slightly," I joked as I sat up. The smile on my face stayed as I sat back up. I shifted over on the bed so that I was sitting closer to him. "I'm just messing with you."

"Know something?" he started. "You're cute too."

My eyes got wide and my face felt like I was next to a boiling pot. My jaw went slack and I tried to think if something to say. All that came out was a choking sound.

I pulled myself together and shoved him off the bed. He started laughing when he hit the floor, and once he'd started he didn't show any signs of stopping.

"Ah, shut up you little bastard!" I shouted. I reached behind me and grabbed the pillow that started it all. Not hesitating at all, I brought the pillow up and used all my strength to bring it down on his head.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, still smiling. He burst into laughter as he threw the pillow back at me. I let it hit my face and soon the two of us were acting like idiots. I let myself fall backwards and the I shifted so that my head was above his.

"You're an idiot," I remarked. Reaching once more for the pillow, I shifted where I lay and pressed ths pillow into his face.

He made sounds of protest as he forced the devious pillow away. "Enough with the pillows!" he said, throwing his hand up in surrender.

I could hear the smile in his exasperated tone, and I sighed before letting out a short giggle. I loved messing with him. It seemed the series had completely left out the part about him being a fun person if in the right situation.

"Did I miss something?" I heard Al's voice say from the doorway. I glanced over at him an sat up, being careful I didn't hurt my leg as I did so. My hand cradled my thigh as I used the other the shift back to where I was supposed to have originally been.

"Let's see," I started as I stuffed the evil pillow behind my back. "There was an epic pillow fight, Ed busted his automail arm, he has to have Winry come out here, and I'm pretty sure Ed's fallen for me."

There was brief moment of silence. Pretty soon, the sounds of echoing laughter resonated through out Al's armor and around the small-ish room. He understood my intentions. Ed, however, uickly attempted to prove me wrong. All the while I was laughing with the little Elric.

"Ari!" Ed exclaimed after a handful of excuses.

"I was joking!" I said. At this point I was nearly doubled over with laughter. I felt lucky that I'd been shot in the leg. If it had gone higher, all of today's fun would've caused me to reopen my wounds, and waking up in a hospital had gotten old fast.

A loud yawn interrupted my laughs. My hand reached up to cover my mouth and fell as I exhaled.

"Are you tired?" Ed asked me. I met his gaze and nodded. I hadn't noticed it at first, but the moment I yawned I realized how drained I was.

"Yeah," I said. A smirk found it's way onto my face."I've been up for a few hours at most, and a majority of that was with a doctor asking me questions. Life is weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," Ed said.

"You do realize I'm kicking you out, right?" I said, turning towards them. Ed wore a confused expression on his face, and I assumed Al was the same.

"Why?" Ed asked me.

My eyebrow rose. "Ross said you haven't left my room if it couldn't be helped. You need to get back to the hotel and get some sleep."

"I have been sleeping," heprotested.

"The foot of my bed doesn't count," I said, using a stern voice like my teachers normally used on me. "You need real sleep. If you keep sleeping hunched over you'll end up with a hump." The mental image of an Igor-Ed made me snicker.

"There's no way that's true," he said, but I could sense he didn't want to test my theory.

"Oh? Okay, let's test it," I said. "You stay here and become a hunchback. That's one way to stay single."

Letting out a sigh, he shook his head and stuffed his hand into his pocket. "I guess we're leaving then."

I nodded. "Off with you."

"Ya know, you were more agreeable when you were comatose," Ed joked.

My eyes rolled at him. "Whatever."

"So am I ever going to learn what it was you were humming?"

The world froze for a brief second. I didn't like singing in front of people. Act? Sure! It was fun! But sing? Ah, hell no!

"Not anytime soon, I asure you of that," I stated.

He sighed again. He sighed a lot when he wasn't being fun, but it couldn't be helped. Life in general was a long story filled with sighs.

Al started for the door, signaling for the both of them to go. We exchanged fairwells and as soon as the light went out I could feel my eyelids start to droop. Not long after, I was asleep.

•|•|•

_The nightmares... Why the nightmares? Life was going so well..._

_"Are you sure?" a raspy voice asks. "You still can't get home, can you? You've killed while being here. Life doesn't seem that nice to me."_

_My breath catches in my chest. I look around, frantic to find who it is that's talking to me. There's nothing there. It's pitch black. But even so, I can see myself. Theres a light coming from nowhere, shining on me. _

_I finally recognize where I am. It's Truth's realm. The only difference is that it's black. Black and dark..._

_"I didn't kill him!" I scream, falling to my knees. I wince as the muscles in my injured leg pull."It wasn't my fault!"_

_"You were used to kill. Intentionally or indirectly doesn't matter. The fact is that you killed."_

_No..._

_"You're wrong! It's not my fault!"_

_The tears are falling now. My body is shaking. Why now? It's been nearly a week. Why are the nightmares coming now?_

_"Because this is real sleep. You willingly fell asleep. You should have seen this coming." The voice fades away, leaving me alone in the never ending blackness. _

_Alone... I've always been alone. I always will be. That's fine. I should be used to it by now, right? _

_Right?_

_No. I'll never be used to it. _

•|•|•

As I started to wake up, the soft hums of the AC sent a rush of calm through me. Slowly, my senses regained their abilities. My hearing was first, and then came my sense of touch. The soft sheet I was under put me at ease, but my leg was hurting more the day before. The last of the pain killers had finally worn off. My eyes remained closed. I wasn't ready for the lights, no matter how badly I wanted to see.

I let out a sigh and brought my arm over my face.

"I need more dreams and less life. And I need that dark, in a little more light," I sang quietly, letting all my focus go to singing the right notes and towards saying the lyrics with my own modifications. "I've cried tears you'll never see. So you can go and cry me an ocean, and leave me be."

"That's a bit harsh," I heard a voice say.

My body went stiff when I realzied there was someone else in the room with me. It took a moment for my brain to recogniaze the voice as Ed's.

With a sigh I let my arm fall and I opened my eyes. "Didn't I kick you out?" I asked as I pushed myself up. He was standing in the door way, his automail arm in a sling.

"Yeah. Last night," he retorted.

A smirk showed up on my face. "You look broken," I said in reference to his arm.

His eye twitched as he came into the room. "Oh really? And whose fault is that?"

"Yours," I said easily. I brought my hands in front of me and placed them in my lap. A jagged scar caught my attention and my eyes narrowed. My fingers ran across the raised white flesh and the ridiculus circumstances that caused it suddenly came to mind.

"What's that?" Ed asked me, his brows furrowed.

I met his gaze briefly before letting out a low growl that had been sitting in the back of my throat. "Cats are pure evil."

He was obviously confused by this, but his laughter cancelled it out.

"What do you mean?" Al's voice said from the doorway. "How can cats be evil?"

_He has no clue what he's about to start. _

"Well," I started. "Demons have apparently are affctionate towards the little monsters, there's a pretty popular urban legand about how cats are able to see ghosts, they're impossible to control, and a few years back when I was about ten my neighbor's cat went crazy and attacked me."

The little Elric was as frozen as he was speechless."B-but..."

I held up my hand as an example. "Those cute faces are how they lure you in. Once they have you, they have you." Ed leaned in for a better look at the scar. His eyes widened and I looked at him met his gaze. "Be grateful that your brother's strays haven't come back for revenge, dude."

I assumed he still didn't know what I meant when I said 'dude', but it he didn't question it.

"You're telling me a _cat_ did that?" Ed questioned.

"The evil little bastard tore through my shirt that day!" I exclaimed. He backed up, not expecting an outburst. "If not for the fact I'd been wearing a sweater he'd have skinned me alive!"

A knock on the door prevented me from continuing my rant about how evil cats are.

"Am I interrupting?"

I looked up and saw Winry. My eyes grew wide at the sight of her. She looked exactly like the version in the series, only prettier. She reminded me of the popular girls at school, only she didn't have to try.

"Uh, no. I don't think so," I said, unsure of how I was to respond to her question.

She looked from me, to Ed, to Al, and then back to me. With a smile she came into the room. "My assumptions were right," she stated, still smiling.

I blinked as she set her tool box down at the foot of the bed.

"You are cute," she stated simply as she unhooked the latch.

"... Sorry, what?" I asked.

She ignored me. "So Ed," she said to catch his attention. "You dragged me out here, so let's get this over with."

"You mean you're just gonna do it right here?" he asked, his confusion obvious.

Winry gave him a teasing grin. "What's wrong? All of a sudden wittle Ed's shy?" she mocked.

"For the last time I'm not little!" he exclaimed.

"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes for emphasis. "Now take off your shirt and let me fix your arm before you break it even further."

"You're the one who didn't repair my arm properly! I should get a refund!"

"It was just a couple screws," she remarked. An evil smirk graved her face as she pulled a wrench from her toolbox. "Now shirt. Off."

I couldn't help it. At first it was just a short giggle, but soon I couldn't stop laughing. All eyes turned to me.

"What's with you?" Ed questioned.

Ignoring him, I met Winry's puzzled gaze. "Please wrench him," I begged between chortles. "Seriously dude, just once and I'll die laughing."

Ed's expression was priceless. He was horrified with me. "Ari!" he and Al exclaimed.

Winry soin joined in my laughter. "I like her already," she stated.

Ed seemed to fall into a weird state of depression. "Two against one leaves me with worse odds."

I shook my head before reaching out and giving him something of a shove. "Hakuna matata my friend."

My Lion King reference left my fangirl crush even more confused then before.

"Well that was fun," Winry stated. "Now. Strip so I can fix your arm."

Ed muttered something under his breath that I didn't quite catch. "Fine." He pulled the sling off and his arm fell to his side. His black long sleeved shirt posed a problem, however. Getting on was apparently the easy part.

"Oh for crying out loud," Winry sighed. She stepped over an helped him pull the troublesome tee up over his head. "There. Now sit." She gestured and Ed obeyed accordingly.

It was hard to _not _look at the shirtless Ed. Pardon my French, but the boy was fucking hot to begin with. Add a few muscles and you have a recipe for disaster. Luckily for me this was life, and some anime. The fangirling induced nosebleed would've stuck me in a coma for a week otherwise.

* * *

|•| _Ed _|•|

Normally, Ed wouldn't have cared who it was that was around while Winry did repairs on his automail. He did care with Ari. He didn't know why, but when Winry had to help him undress his face had flushed slightly. Sure she knew about his automail and how he'd gotten it, but the fact he didn't tell her made him feel somewhat insecure. It was a weird feeling.

He kept his eyes closed for a majority of the time, but the one time he did he notice that Ari was trying very hard to not look his way. The insecurity returned and he quickly closed his eyes again and let Winry bend his arm backwards.

"So how did you manage to bust your arm if you weren't in any fights?" Winry asked as she tested the arm's range of motion.

Opening his eyes, Ed got his arm back and rolled the shoulder. "Ask Ari," he said bluntly as he made a fist and opened it to make sure the fingers still worked.

"Okay..." Winry trailed off before turning towards the aforementioned companion. "So what did you do?"

Ari made a choking sound. "Excuse me! I didn't do anything! Ed attacked me, and he busted his arm accordingly."

"You attacked her!?" Winry exclaimed. "How could you!?"

Ed's eyes grew wide. He looked past his childhood friend and at the now snickering Ari. "I didn't really attack her! She started it by throwing a pillow at me!"

"Which you then threw back!"

"You kept attacking _me_! It's like you wanted me to..." He trailed off and answered his own question. His shoulders slumped and he sat in the chair slouched over. "Let me guess, I was supposed to bust my automail and Winry was supposed to come here."

He glanced up and saw Ari nod. "If this was like the stories it'd be you in this hospital bed instead of me."

Her words were like knife in his heart as he looked down again. _Just as I was finally accepting reality, she goes and says that I should be in her place. I really did screw up, didn't I?_

He felt something land on his flesh knee. His brows furrowed until he looked up and saw Ari try to console him.

"Come on Ed," she said softly. There was sadness in her hazel eyes as she spoke. "Stop doing that. It's not your fault, so forget I said anything."

He pushed her hand off and stood up. Without another word, he left the room.

* * *

•|• _Ari _•|•

My heart almost stopped when he pushed me away. I brought my hand back and bit my tounge.

_I'm such an idiot. A complete moron. Why? Why the HELL did I have to go off and say something like that!? _

My hands clenched into fists. "I'm so stupid..." I muttered under my breath.

"What just happened?" Winry asked, her tone confused beyond belief.

I swallowed as I pushed the sheets off of me. Swinging my legs over the side, my feet were reluctant to touch the cold tiles.

_Come on,_ I thought. _What are you doing?_

An idea came into my mind. My fingertips brushed against the Stone and I closed my eyes.

_Here goes nothing. It should be simple. Human Biology, dont fail me now! _

I clapped my hands and touched them to my thigh. Ignoring the hospital pants and the mass of bandages, I let out a deep breath and focussed all my energy on my injury. Red electricity crackled and I could feel my leg healing in fast motion. It didn't hurt as badly as I'd anticipated, and soon the pain in my leg was close to gone.

"Ari, what did you just do?" Al asked, nervousness in his tone, as I stood up.

I tested my work, and once I was confident I wouldn't reopen the wound I turned towards them both and said, "Something I should've done a long time ago."

Winry opened her mouth to say something, but I didn't give her a chance. "Al can explain things."

The both of them stared at me as I made a mad dash down the hall.

"Ari! What are you doing!?" I heard Winry exclaim.

_I know where he went. I can make this better. I have to._

The stairway at the end of the hallway lead to the rooftop. My breath caught in my chest as I hopped up the stairs.

_I can't remember the last time I wanted to climb stairs, but here we are. I've been sitting still for far too long_.

I threw open the door to the roof and found myself face to face with sunlight, yet another thing I'd begun to miss.

After blinking a couple times to adjust my vision, I saw a very surprised Ed standing by the railing.

"Ari?" he asked, unsure of what was going on.

"Heh, yeah," I said as I stepped forward.

Ed's expression shifted from confused to furious. "Ari, what the hell!?" he started as I walked towards him. "Why the hell would you get up!? Are you _trying _ to reopen your wounds!?"

"Shut up!" I said loudly. This took him by surprise. Taking another step forward I kept my gaze locked with his. His eyes grew wide with each step I took and each word I said.

"Just shut up and let me talk," I commanded. "First, stop looking at me like that. Next, you need to stop it with all the guilt. No one blames you for anything. Al doesn't blame you for putting him in tht armor, and I don't feel any guilt about being stuck in a hospital. I honestly don't care anymore. In a couple days I'll be discharged and after that we'll go down South and deal with life as it comes. You need to stop dwelling on the past and stop with this whole drama queen act, because quite frankly you're starting to piss off me and everyone else around you. Ironic enough as it is for me to say, you need to let the past be the past! Winry gave you a leg so you could get back up and keep moving forward. Isn't that what you said to Rose down in Lior? You've got a strong pair of legs, so get up and use them!"

Ed stared at me, his mouth half-open as if to respond, for what seemed like forever while he processed what I'd just said. My gaze was firm and I refused to be the one to break.

"Ari!" a voice said from behind me. My brain registered it as Al. "How could you be so reckless!? The Stone is supposed to be used get you home!"

Ed broke away from my gaze to look at his younger brother, but then he looked back at me with concern in his golden eyes. "What is he talking about?"

My head slumped forward and I shook it in frustration. "Why? Why did you have to bring that up, Al?"

"Al, what happened?" Ed asked, stepping around me.

"She used her Stone to heal her leg so she could run after you," he said.

I turned on my heel and glared at the suit of armor. "Gee, thanks for ratting me out Al."

Ed looked at me with a strange mixture of emotions in his eyes.

"Don't look at me like that!" I protested as I crossed my arms over my chest. "I didn't just use the Stone. I know the basic chemical structures that are in the human body. The Stone was needed because I don't know all that much about alkehestry."

"What?" he asked.

I blinked before realizing he didn't know what alkehestry was. That would be the third stop after this if the story followed with Brotherhood: Rush Valley, Dublith, then back up to Rush Valley for repairs after Ed nearly destroys his automail. That third stop would be the deciding factor of what story line we were most likely following, with various differences.

"Alkehestry is a Xingese version of alchemy that's used for it medicinal uses," I explained. Silently, I was hoping that I hadn't jacked anything up by saying that.

_I'm still confused about this whole thing. Brotherhood Gates don't allow people to cross othrough them and between worlds. Everyone has a Gate that is basically their ability to use alchemy. But in the first anime, people could cross. That's pretty obvious, but it was more or less something of a portal if I remember the movie correctly. It wasn't an actual Gate. _

I let out a sigh, ignoring the world around me. _The Ouroboros Society has never existed anywhere but in this version of the FMA world. They said I was Truth's 'favorite', but I can't remember much else before I blacked out anymore. I'll have to ask Ed later once all of this has blown over. _

"Something tells me I'm going to be confined to the room until the doctor checks on me later," I grumbled, my voice too low for any of them to hear me.

It felt good to get up and move. Once I was up, it was harder to go back to sitting and doing nothing. I took advantage of Ed and Al's conversation to sneak around them and take my own sweet time walking back to my room.

The warm cement roof had finally become comfortable, and the second my bare feet met with tile again it sent shivers through out the rest of my body.

"You're already done?" I heard Winry say. I looked around and found her at the bottom of the stairwell.

"Uh, I guess," I said. She matched her pace with mine as we walked back to my room. Once inside, I closed the door so there would be no prying eyes. "So how much did Al tell you?"

"Not much," she stated. "It was pretty confusing."

From there I did my best to explain everything for her. The boys trusted her with so much, I was amazed her mind didn't burst when I told her my story. Starting with how I'm from a different world where FMA is a popular story, how my leg got shot, and how I ended up with stuck with the brothers. At certain points during my explanation she would ask a couple questions, but for the most part she was able to understand a majority of what I'd said.

"You've been passed out for a majority of the time you've spent here," Winry said, smiling somewhat. "That's gotta suck."

I shrugged. "When you're practically comatose, you tend to not care about what goes on around you. Things just happen."

"True," she said. Her sky blue eyes looked up and became distant.

The corners of my mouth pulled down into a frown and I wove a hand in front of her face. "Yoohoo, Earth to Winry," I said. My waving seemed to snap her out of it.

"Sorry," she appologized as she looked up and met my gaze. "Stray thoughts."

I laughed at this. "No worries, my friend. Stray thoughts are what keep me at a healthy level of insanity."

She smiled again, shaking her head at my comment.

Stray thoughts about earlie came through my mind. "What were you talking about earlier? When you called me cute?"

Winry laughed at this. "Yesterday on the phone I asked Ed if the girl he was guarding was cute. He got flustered and I'm pretty sure he was blushing. Seems he had reason to be flustered."

"You're not hitting on me, are you?"

"Of course not!" she exclaimed. "You don't have to like girls to know when they're attractive you know."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Just making sure." Her words suddenly took effect and my face warmed up. "Wait... if he didn't give you a straight answer then..."

Winry threw her hands up in the air. "I'm leaving that for you and him to work out." My blush only deepened as she went on. "I saw the way you were eyeing him," she said. "I could tell what was going through your head."

I put my face in my hands. "Please shut up about this. I'll try to talk Ed into letting you come to Rush Valley with us if you do."

My bribe automatically worked. "You're going to Rush Valley!" she exclaimed.

_Ed will kill me, but another girl on the trip works for me._

"Well we'll be passing by the town on our trip to Dublith, but if you let go of the previous conversation, I'll try and talk Ed into letting you come."

Winry let out the loudest "squee!" that I'd ever heard before in my life. It was worse then Opal when we went to our first big Con. Opal gave me my Ed plush at that Con.

The stray thoughts resulted in me wondering what happened to my plush. It'd been weeks by now, and I was longing for the Ed that didn't talk and didn't blush when I hugged him. Not that I'd ever hugged the real life version, but the mere thought was enough to make me turn pink once again.

_I never realized how much a person could blush until I got here. It's crazy!_

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! So how was it? Good? Bad? Both? Crazy OOC? Okay amount of OOC? ****Please**** let me know what issues you see so I can make this better. Is the story progressing too fast? Too slow? I am open to everything as long as you have valid proof behind your critisism. It's been a while since I worked on this, and there is almost always room for improvement. **

**That said! The next chapter may take a while, and then some for my other fic. I'm using my mom's laptop to update right now, because mine is in the shop. A couple screws missing and the whole nearly fell apart, kinda like Ed's arm. Good thing I've got the warrenty!**

**So my unicorns and I will happily read any reviews this gets while I'm writing the next chapter. So please review and see you then ^_^**


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